One step closer to radical energy reduction in hospitals

Image courtesy of NBBJ

It's no surprise that fundamental shifts are taking place in the U.S. healthcare system. But some of the more significant changes in the coming years could have little to do with congressional reform. The pursuit of America's first net-zero hospital is one such example of an idea that has the potential to transform the healthcare industry.

Over the last several years, healthcare executives have become more willing to invest in energy reduction-inspired by the prospect of a facility that increases patient care, reduces annual energy costs, and eventually produces its own energy. In fact, energy reduction is proven to be one of the least expensive and easiest ways to immediately cut hospital operating costs.

A recent study by the University of Washington's Integrated Design Lab (IDL), NBBJ, TBD Consultants, and Solarc Architecture and Engineering, offers the next iteration in the plan to achieve the first net-zero hospital and make energy efficiency in hospitals affordable and worthwhile. The study shows how hospitals can reduce energy use by 60% at little or no additional capital cost. This report is the first time the cost of construction has been evaluated with design solutions, resulting in a clear understanding of how certain decisions will affect both energy efficiency and the bottom line. These strategies have also been vetted via hospital owners and facility managers to verify practicality and ease of maintenance.

By applying the study's architectural strategies and energy performance options, a new medium-sized hospital in Seattle could save more than $700,000 in annual energy expenses. In addition, implementing these strategies has the potential to improve staff recruitment and retention by creating a healthier, more pleasant facility in which to work and receive care.

Striking a major chord within the industry, the research caught the attention of the U.S. Department of Energy, which awarded the team a $1.2-million grant to extend its Pacific Northwest climate and cost-based model to a nationwide scope. Now armed with this new grant, IDL's core research team can empirically run these numbers for five additional cities and climate zones to see how a 60% reduction can be achieved in each region and at what cost.

Hospitals are the second most energy-intensive building type in the United States, consuming 4% of domestic energy use. There is also evidence that the health sector's energy use and resulting toxic emissions actually undermine the health of the communities the sector is meant to serve. On the basis of esti­mates by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the U.S. health sector's 73 billion kWh “con­ventional” electricity use adds more than $600 million per year in health costs-including increases in asthma, respira­tory illness, and hospital emergency department visits.¹ If hospitals can slice their energy use by more than half, such a major achievement could significantly improve a hospital's bottom line, and have the added bonus of creating healthier communities.

Study background

The research project began in 2007 when the IDL secured funding from the BetterBricks program, an energy-efficiency initiative of the nonprofit Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance (NEEA). Then, with collaboration from NBBJ, Solarc, TBD, Cameron MacAllister Group, Mahlum, and Mortenson Construction, the team sought to create a fully integrated, energy-efficient hospital design guide for the industry, keeping a close eye on indoor environmental quality and patient, family, and staff comfort.

The research team was inspired by Scandinavian healthcare facilities, which are world-renowned for very low energy use and excellent indoor environmental quality. They considered whether it was possible, under the U.S. healthcare model and code regulations, to build a radically energy-efficient hospital, and estimate how much it would cost.

Aligning itself with the 2030 Challenge and its current 60% reduction goal for new buildings (built between 2010 and 2015), they set the goal to reduce the energy use index of a typical hospital in the Pacific Northwest from 270 KBtu/SF to 100 KBtu/SF per year. The team then rolled up its sleeves and began discussing and evaluating various design strategies to achieve their objective.