Energy efficiency upgrades will deliver a western Sydney aged care facility an eight-year payback on its $155,000 investment – and rising power prices are likely to shorten the payback time.

An energy audit of the Rooty Hill aged care facility by consultancy Big Switch Projects found energy savings of nearly 1,300GJ a year could be delivered by improving light fittings and controls, adjusting the hot water temperature on washing machines and installing a heat exchanger on the clothes dryers.

With electricity prices on the rise due to factors including a carbon price signal, the savings identified at the facility will prove conservative, according to Big Switch Projects' Louise Kelly.

"We're aware of another aged care facility operator in South Australia who will be hit by a 48% increase in electricity prices from January 1, 2010," she said.

A pre-feasibility study at the Rooty Hill facility found that a $500,000 investment in a small cogeneration plant to serve the laundry would take 23 years to pay back on current energy prices, although this would shorten to 15 years with a carbon price of $20 per tonne of CO2 avoided.

"The paybacks of projects like those identified at Rooty Hill will improve significantly, and with a price on carbon through emission trading starting in 2011, initiatives such as cogeneration will become more feasible," Kelly says

The audit was conducted under the Blacktown Solar City's Business Energy Efficiency Program.

(Carbon & Environment Daily September 2009)