Healthcare Facilities: The Road Towards Energy Efficiency & Conservation

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Nowadays, the world’s concern is related to the environment, ecology and saving our planet. One of the actions is energy conservation and efficiency. The rise in energy resource costs drove many industries to review their energy consumption, especially the healthcare industry. In addition, healthcare facilities are seeking to reduce their energy consumption without impacting the quality and safety of day-to-day care. They must find short- and long-term solutions while engaging all the concerned parties in the process. 

 

Therefore, what are the actions and measures that can be taken in healthcare facilities in terms of energy efficiency?

 

Energy consumption and specifically electrical energy consumption have increased since 1990 and led to a 63.9% increase in carbon emissions. The healthcare industry is responsible for approximately 5 to 8% of global energy consumption worldwide. Therefore, energy consumption is a major economic and ecological issue in different industries and especially the healthcare sector.

 

In Europe, the health industry represents approximately 6 to 20% of energy and electricity consumption in the service sectors.

 

In the United Kingdom, the healthcare sector’s electricity consumption represents approximately 8% of the total electricity consumption of the service sector and 15.9% of the total energy consumption.

 

In addition, the healthcare sector is an important contributor to Greenhouse Gases emissions (10%), acid rain (12%) and air pollution (10%).

 

Therefore, many questions are raised about finding ways and solutions to limit energy consumption in the healthcare industry, to lower the bills of establishments while having a positive impact on the environment.

 

Energy efficiency in the legal and standards framework

 

Following the rising prices of energy all over the world, many governments and organisations started to implement actions and measures to reduce their energy consumption to primarily reduce their bills!

 

However, long before the energy crisis, some directives and standards encourage energy efficiency and conservation.

 

In Europe, the Energy Efficiency Directive 2012/27/EU and later on in 2018 was amended and led to the Directive 2018/2012, which states the measures and actions to be adopted to reduce energy consumption by drawing a National Energy Efficiency Action Plan (NEEAP). In addition, joining the directive with the European Green Deal package was a logical step to reduce GHG emissions by 55% in 2030. And, most recently, EU member states agreed to reduce their gas consumption by 15%  by spring 2023, in addition to reducing by 5 to 10% electricity consumption.

 

In the United Kingdom, Brexit did not change their commitment to the measures and actions to take regarding energy efficiency. The United Kingdom’s investment in energy efficiency is still undergoing.

 

Of course, every country around the world has implemented measures, laws and regulations to be part of the energy efficiency and conversation plan.

 

In addition to the regulations, there are also existing standards and certifications that organisations and healthcare facilities can adopt to prove their commitment to energy efficiency. For example, LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is a global green building certification. The LEED certification contains many requirements related to the building and construction of an establishment which aims to be environmentally friendly. A hospital in India got the LEED platinum certification, Kohinoor Hospital, for implementing LED and CFL lights, in addition to photovoltaic solar power for the air conditioning equipment.

 

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Energy efficiency challenges in the Healthcare sector

 

Healthcare facilities, and especially hospitals and nursing homes face many challenges in terms of energy efficiency. However, it remains important for these establishments to reduce their energy consumption, as rising bills can lead to a permanent closure of the establishment, leaving ill people without care and employees losing their jobs.

 

Here are some examples of the faced challenges by healthcare facilities:

  • 24/7: hospitals and nursing homes are always functioning all around the year. Patients need around-the-clock care and the equipment on which their life depends, and all this necessitates a power supply. This is “THE” major difference with other industries’ establishments. Hospitals and nursing homes must always be up and running in terms of energy. The health and safety of all patients and employees are on the line (contamination, heating, equipment, etc.).

  • Healthcare facilities expansion: Over time, some hospitals and nursing homes expanded their establishments and added new wings. The aim was to increase the patients’ reception capacity or to add new specialised departments. Either way, these newly expanded areas usually have different energy infrastructure than the older ones. This difference in energy performance will make it difficult to reach important efficiency results.

  • Energy consumption measurement: Some healthcare facilities may encounter some difficulties in filling their energy data. Some employees or the appointed person for the energy data monitoring, do not know the exact surface of the building, and/or are unable to quantify their energy consumption. The lack of in-house technical skills can be an obstacle to reporting the energy data, which is essential for identifying improvement points.

 

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Actions and measures for energy efficiency in healthcare facilities

 

Training the concerned employees on energy data collection to take the necessary steps to reduce energy consumption is a major element in the actions of energy efficiency. If this action cannot take place, healthcare facilities can rely on external sources. Energy consultancy firms will help them take the necessary economical measures and deploy the best strategies to correctly manage their energy consumption.

 

Once the strategy for energy efficiency is adopted, the targets are set, and an energy management system is in place, it is time to act.

 

In general, the implemented actions will depend on several factors, including the age of the facility, its size and the type of healthcare services provided.

 

The first step is to review all the energy contracts and check them to see if there are opportunities to reduce the costs and consumption of energy. This will greatly help the future measures of energy efficiency in the establishment.

 

All healthcare facilities have their equipment and they vary depending on the provided service. The equipment must be regularly inspected and checking the maintenance schedule is important. Poorly maintained equipment is a source of overconsumption. In addition, acquiring new equipment that consumes less energy and is built for energy efficiency purposes might be more adequate than keeping old and obsolete equipment. Moreover, facility managers can optimise and adjust the functionalities of the equipment to reduce energy costs

 

Other actions, do not need huge investments and long-term adjustments. Small-scale works and adjustments are possible. For example, in the case of lighting, facilities can switch to LED or CFL lights. Coupled with detection and programming systems, LED technology can improve energy performance while limiting maintenance costs and operations. This can lead to savings of up to a million euros on energy bills.

 

Some facilities, depending on their size, can rely on or be equipped with capacitor banks for their entire electrical network. Energy can be recovered and restored if necessary. This regular energy management system will allow better control the energy consumption.

 

Finally, one of the essential levers for energy efficiency is raising staff awareness. The goal is to obtain the support of health professionals and their engagement in the project. This is made possible by raising their awareness of environmental issues, going far beyond the energy crisis itself. They must also be reassured that these actions will not have an impact on the quality and safety of day-to-day care. Healthcare professionals must feel involved in all aspects of energy efficiency actions, by taking into consideration all their feedback and using them as fuel for corrective actions.

 

Healthcare facilities must take and implement many actions and decisions to achieve energy efficiency. The implemented actions allow facilities and healthcare staff to continue performing their job with high-quality healthcare services while ensuring patient comfort. All industries and activities are concerned with energy efficiency and conservation. Therefore, sharing good practices and information from one industry to another will allow each organisation to take full advantage and experience energy efficiency.

 

To go further: 

> To help you with your energy performance management discover our ISO 50001 application on BlueMarket.

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