With the cost of energy surging, hospitals are looking for ways to dramatically reduce consumption. A new initiative of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) aims to help them do just that.
Launched in July during the American Society for Healthcare Engineering's (ASHE) Annual Conference and Technical Exhibition in National Harbor, MD, the EnergySmart Hospitals Initiative helps hospitals reduce energy use and operating costs, with the added benefit of lowering greenhouse gas emissions, by helping them implement innovative, cost-effective, proven technologies.
"Hospitals are one of the biggest energy users in the country," explains ASHE Executive Director Dale Woodin, but "it's not like they can just turn down the thermostat to save energy. Still, if hospitals haven't already begun looking at ways to reduce energy consumption, they've got to."
In 2006, 91% of hospitals reported higher energy costs over the previous year, and more than 50% cited double-digit increases. One of the EnergySmart Initiative's goals is to help improve efficiency in existing buildings by 20%, and 30% in newly constructed facilities.
Integral to the initiative is the Hospital Energy Alliance, whose mission will be to harness advanced technologies, analytical tools and capabilities emerging from the DOE and the technology sector, as well as to serve as the industry voice to influence manufacturers and distributors to provide more efficient products. The alliance - which includes Kaiser Permanente, Providence Health System in Seattle, WA, and San Francisco-based Catholic Health West - is scheduled to meet for the first time this month.
Woodin says the alliance also will work with stakeholders to develop energy efficiency standards, which exist for many other nationwide industries but not hospitals, although some states have their own regulations.
The DOE promotes the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) "green building" certification for health care facilities as one of several resources hospitals can use when seeking to build more energy efficient, sustainable facilities.
Opened in Sept. 2003, Boulder (CO) Community Hospitals' 60-bed Foothills location was the country's first LEED-certified hospital. According to Boulder's Environmental Coordinator Kai Abelkis, they were very serious about wanting to reflect the community's values concerning the environment. "Certification was just a continuation of our sustainability efforts journey that began in the 1990s when some nurses wanted a recycling program," he says.
To become LEED certified, Boulder had to tackle a host of issues, including improving indoor air quality, instituting a comprehensive recycling program, providing alternative transportation for employees, reducing construction waste, restoring wetlands and reducing water use.
But they also had to become much more energy efficient. They decided to build a central utility plant with efficient boilers and coolers and focused on reducing their overall use of electricity through more efficient lighting and encouraging staff to turn off lights before leaving a room and turning off computers when not in use. Abelkis estimates this reduced Boulder Foothill's energy consumption by 25%. Recently, they added solar electric paneling to offset their use of conventional energy.
As a result of their efforts, Abelkis says, the Foothills facility has become one of the "crowning jewels" of their community.
ASHE's Woodin suggests that hospital executives meet with their engineers and energy or facility managers, and talk about their facility's energy usage. "Every CEO at least needs to understand how much they are spending on energy costs, and there are so many tools - LEED being one of them - that can really direct them toward a more efficient hospital, regardless of whether actual certification is an option," he says.