Buildings are responsible for almost half of the energy consumed in the United States. Nearly 90% of that energy is associated with building operations that occur after a building has been constructed.
In a previous discussion on our Idea Cloud, we explored implications of long-term thinking and what that meant for buildings. If we can conceptualize buildings as 50, 100, or 200 year assets, we can start to see the multitude of synergistic benefits that long-term thinking can provide, especially in terms of a building’s energy use.
In addition to reducing operational costs and minimizing harmful environmental impacts, reducing building energy consumption can provide significant returns on investment, promote the health and wellbeing of building occupants, optimize working conditions, and provide a lasting asset to communities.
What Energy Consumption Means to Hospitals
Hospitals, often seen as long-lasting community assets, are the second highest consumer of energy by building type, accounting more than 5 percent of all energy used in the U.S. yet accounting for only 1 percent of all commercial buildings. They consume about 2.5 times more energy than a similarly sized office building. As the cost of energy continues to rise so to do the prospects for a healthcare organization’s operational costs.
Click here see a larger version of the graphic.
Simultaneously, hospitals are under an increasing amount of pressure to be more cost efficient while improving the quality of services that they offer to patients and their communities. In this economic climate, reducing energy consumption goes beyond environmental stewardship; it goes right to an organizations ability to service its patients.
Much of a hospital’s energy demands are associated with the complexities required to provide quality care, including technical sophistication, complex building program, 24/7 operations, and major HVAC demands associated with infection control and hazardous chemical usage.
While the up-front costs associated with high performance buildings are generally greater than more conventionally designed buildings, there are opportunities for healthcare institutions to capitalize on the cost savings associated with reducing a building’s energy consumption. As the accompanying graphic shows, potential savings in both energy and money can be surprisingly significant.
As healthcare organizations in most communities, especially smaller cities and towns, are a leading economic driver in their community, the ripple effect from cost efficiencies can spread well into the community as well as set a new standard of operation for others to follow.
The service demands of a hospital make it a complex design and a mechanical challenge. For all of its complexities, though, it is the dynamic nature of the facility that affords it opportunities to create synergy between mechanical systems and balance the needs of the hospital. Through mechanical design strategies, hospital can achieve the energy and costs targets cited. An upcoming Idea Cloud blog post will explore some of these strategies.
Categories
Popular Tags
Archives
- September 2023
- August 2023
- July 2023
- June 2023
- May 2023
- April 2023
- March 2023
- February 2023
- January 2023
- December 2022
- November 2022
- October 2022
- September 2022
- August 2022
- July 2022
- June 2022
- March 2022
- February 2022
- January 2022
- December 2021
- November 2021
- October 2021
- September 2021
- August 2021
- July 2021
- June 2021
- May 2021
- April 2021
- March 2021
- February 2021
- December 2020
- November 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- July 2020
- June 2020
- May 2020
- April 2020
- March 2020
- February 2020
- January 2020
- December 2019
- November 2019
- October 2019
- September 2019
- August 2019
- May 2019
- April 2019
- March 2019
- December 2018
- November 2018
- October 2018
- August 2018
- July 2018
- June 2018
- May 2018
- April 2018
- March 2018
- February 2018
- November 2017
- October 2017
- September 2017
- July 2017
- June 2017
- April 2017
- March 2017
- February 2017
- January 2017
- December 2016
- November 2016
- October 2016
- September 2016
- July 2016
- May 2016
- April 2016
- December 2015
- November 2015
- August 2015
- July 2015
- February 2015
- October 2014
- September 2014
- August 2014