Healthcare Energy Savings Opportunity

There are 5,815 hospitals in the U.S. with a total of 951,045 registered hospitals beds according to the American Hospital Association. The average hospital uses 2.5 times the amount of energy as other commercial buildings, says the US Department of Energy, adding up to 836 trillion BTUs or $5 Billion in energy bills annually.

The trend in energy use is growing as we add more machines, computing and software tools, digital patient record systems and other power hungry machines, products and storage devices as well as cooling, heating, lighting and ventilation units.

A 25% energy use savings would amount to over $1.25 Billion per year, or $214,961 per hospital or $1,314 per bed per year. Energy efficiency represents a huge opportunity for hospitals and the healthcare industry.

Over the past decade healthcare industry leaders have focused on methods and practices for cutting overall hospital and healthcare costs including energy. The US DoE and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) are looking at Green Building strategies for healthcare facilities.

Emulated in part from the US Green Building Council (USGBC) the healthcare industry is developing a Green Guide for Healthcare (GGHC) which outlines self-certification goals and process for hospital and healthcare professionals. Energy efficiency is included. (See GEAR Knowledge page for links to the GGHC and USGBC documents).

The big consumers of energy in healthcare are:

• Interior lighting 25%
• Ventilation 21%
• Cooling 20%
• Data Center/Computing Sites 15%
• Motors, Fans and Compressors 7%
• Refrigeration 4%

The big culprits are the ventilation and cooling which oftentimes use electrical centrifugal water chillers that become the largest single load factors in most facilities consuming up to 35% or more of the annual electrical use.

Integrated energy benchmarks, designs and HVAC systems yield efficiency. A systems approach to reducing energy use in heating, ventilation, air conditioning and data processing and storage can yield energy savings of 30% or more per year.

GEAR Energy Systems helps healthcare professionals simplify the energy efficiency solution. GEAR is trained and certified as facility LEED engineers and techs and hold electrical utility and DoE training and certifications. We can help you design and implement an energy efficiency benchmark and energy efficiency management plan that will save money and improve operations.