Legacy Salmon Creek Energy Study has National Implications for Hospital Design

An energy study at Legacy Salmon Creek Medical Center in Vancouver, Washington, confirms that in many hospitals, heating systems use the most energy. The study also has some surprising results, namely that imaging equipment and hot water account for much less energy use than had been thought.

The study was made possible with funding from the U.S. Department of Energy, through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, and the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance’s BetterBricks Initiative .Study partners were the University of Washington’s (UW) Integrated Design Lab and Eugene, Oregon-based SOLARC Architecture & Engineering Inc. The UW project team worked with Legacy Health officials to monitor energy use at the hospital during a one-month period in the winter of 2011. The detailed information on how hospitals use energy will be helpful in reducing energy use in other healthcare facilities

Legacy Salmon Creek, which opened in August 2005, was chosen because it already performs more efficiently than the typical U.S. hospital in terms of its use of electricity and natural gas. The national and state average Energy Use Index for hospitals is about 270 KBtu/sf-yr. Salmon Creek’s EUI is 215 KBtu/sf-yr.

Find the Executive Summary and the complete study of Legacy Salmon Creek online at http://idlseattle.com/Health/study_hospital.html.