DOE Rolls Out EnergySmart Hospitals Program

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WASHINGTON, D.C. -- The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) wants the nation’s hospitals to improve energy efficiency by 20 percent at existing facilities and make new hospitals 30 percent more efficient than expected.

To that end, the DOE has started its EnergySmart Hospitals initiative to promote improved energy conservation and resources management at the 8,000 hospitals in the United States. Associate Under Secretary for Energy Richard F. Moorer announced the program on July 23 at the annual meeting of the American Society for Healthcare Engineering (ASHE).

The DOE said the program will provide tools, resources, case studies and design strategies to help support hospitals in their efforts. The tools and other materials are to include advanced energy design guides for small and large hospitals, technology assessments and an interactive Web site.  The program also is to offer a series of training sessions, the first of which are to target hospitals in five urban metropolitan areas.

In 2007, hospitals spent more than $5 billion on energy costs with more than 2.5 times the energy intensity and carbon dioxide emissions of commercial office buildings, said the DOE, while acknowledging that hospitals are open, staffed and functional 24 hours a day every day of the year.

A recent study commissioned by Johnson Controls and the American Society for Healthcare Engineering (ASHE) found that energy decision-makers at healthcare facilities place a higher priority on energy efficiency than do their counterparts in other industries. The study of 335 energy officials and executives in healthcare this spring also showed that 67 percent of them — a proportionately greater number than among other industries — plan to spend capital this year on energy efficiency.

A majority of healthcare organizations have already invested in efficiency and cost control measures, ASHE and Johnson Controls said last week in announcing results of the study, which also noted that there are still many opportunities at healthcare facilities for improvement in energy consumption and conservation.

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