Healthcare Design - December 2013 - 14

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reasonably improve its efficiency to at least $2.81/sq. ft./year, which,
when scaled to a 400,000-square-foot facility, amounts to a difference of about $196,000 annually.
Facility energy assessments
Energy assessments, or audits, quantify how and where energy
is being used at a facility, primarily by looking at the efficiency of
individual pieces of equipment. Assessment results identify specific,
potential energy conservation measures (ECMs), and provide a
financial analysis of these potential ECMs to help set goals and priorities, create action plans, and implement deeper retrofits. Without an
audit, it's very difficult to know which energy-saving measures can
be performed and what the expected benefits are.
Audits can be simple, walk-through assessments that take a few
hours to perform, or highly detailed investigations, done over days,
that get down to the make and model and expected efficiency of
boilers and chillers.
The walk-through audits identify low-cost, quick return opportunities that can be funded out of operating expenses. For example, an
audit would show the number of T12 light bulbs in use in 24/7 locations like hallways and stairwells, and would calculate the potential
energy savings from replacing those with T8 bulbs.
The in-depth audits, those that are comparable to the national
standard, ASHRAE Level II, identify deeper issues and larger projects, and can be a starting point for developing a strategic energy
management master plan-an approach that's been explored by
Northwestern Memorial, St. Bernard, and Norwegian American
hospitals. Often, hospitals choose to conduct these assessments
because the larger projects identified could require integration into
capital planning, and therefore need to be identified well in advance.
In Chicago, hospitals can seek financial support for this type of effort
from a local energy provider.

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HCDmagazine.com 12.13

Life cycle cost over first cost
There are many ways to determine the cost of a purchase or capital
project. "First cost" measures cost by totaling the initial expenditures-capital expense, site preparation, transportation, and installation. Quite differently, life cycle cost analysis (LCCA) quantifies the
total cost of ownership of a piece of equipment, building system, or
facility by taking into account not only the initial costs but also the
costs of owning, maintaining, and disposing of the item. LCCA is
especially useful for comparing options that have different initial and
operating costs.
For example, as part of a recent cooling plant upgrade, Advocate
Illinois Masonic Medical Center chose to use LCCA to select three
new, high-efficiency, 700-ton chillers with variable frequency drives
and magnetic bearing compressors. Using LCCA not only allowed
Advocate Illinois Masonic to purchase more efficient chillers, which
will save it an additional $29,000 per year (over less efficient options,
every year for the 25- to 30-year life of the chillers), but it also allowed
the facility to receive a $203,700 incentive from an energy provider's
program, the largest rebate for an energy-saving retrofit ever presented to a Chicago hospital.

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Healthcare Design - December 2013

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