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Facilities Manager Peer Exchange Meeting

February 15, 2013

Participating Hospitals

  • Lurie Children's Memorial
  • Mt. Sinai Hospital & Schwab Rehabilitation Institute
  • Presence Health
  • Saint Bernard Hospital
  • Shriners Hospital for Children - Chicago
  • Swedish Covenant Hospital
  • University of Chicago Medical Center

NOTE: If you would like to learn more about any of the following peer exchange discussion topics, please contact the CGHI team and we will connect you with the appropriate hospital(s).

Discussion

The discussion reviewed the following points - click here for the presentation.

January Meeting Recap

  • Options to Recognize Achievements and Further Support Efforts
  • Leverage Tax Incremet Financing
  • Comparing multiple financial metrics can strengthen case and support better decision making
  • The goals of the green/sustainability team and energy plan could/should be aligned

Strategic Energy Master Plans

  • Encourage a long-term system-wide approach rather than project-only
  • Align with Hospital mission, long term sustainability goals, climate change projections, and/or others
  • Establish guiding principles for energy management
  • Formalize energy consumption reduction
  • Create agreed upon goals and metrics for measurement
  • Provide a funding commitment
  • Components include: energy conservation measures, energy forecasting, environmental compliance, financial incentives, renewable technologies, energy procurement, energy source diversification, distributed cogeneration, unplanned utility outage, and key performance indicators
  • Benefits include: world-class patient care and happy staff, environmental leadership, and bottom line savings
  • Gunderson Lutheran Hospital has many examples of renewable energy projects that support local economic sustainability, with large wind energy projects (Lewiston and Cashton), a combined heat and power project (City Brewery), and a solar thermal project (Child Care Center).
  • Hospitals have a tough time with behavioral change because most people are unaware of the actual energy usage
  • IDPH code barriers exist to reduce energy consumption because a high number of air changes are required in operating rooms, even when they are unused
  • Chicago hospitals sign short energy agreements due to volatility and have a difficult time with renewables due to little chance of payback

Prioritization Tools

  • Grid Analysis: decide between several options and taking different factors into account
  • CARVER Matrix: determine which task is most important at a given time
  • Paired Comparison Analysis: when you have no objective data on which to base decision and are evaluating marketing, new IT system, new piece of machinery, etc.
  • Pugh Matrix: evaluate alternatives against a baseline
  • U of C uses a weighted matrix
  • Lurie uses a hazardous valuation analysis

Structuring/Motivating Green Teams

Chicago hospital green team notes:

  • St. Bernard has a Green Committee that is active
  • Shriners has a Green Team and an annual Earth Day fair to engage staff and patients
  • Lurie has about 18 people in their Healthy Hospital Committee from a variety of departments

Scope and Goals of Green Teams includes:

  • Improve health outcomes for patients, staff, and community
  • Eliminate the cause of health issues
  • Energy Reduction
  • Waste Reduction
  • Green Procurement
  • Employee Education
  • Community Education and Engagement
  • Water Conservation
  • Greenhouse Gas Reduction
  • Local Economic Development
  • Toxic Waste Reduction
  • Local Organic Food
  • Green Supply Chain
  • Certification

Potential Core Teams:

  • Education Team
  • Marketing / Public Relations Team
  • Communication Team
  • Data Team
  • Recognition Team

Possible approaches to help motivate green team members:

  • Executive level support / integrated into core business
  • Incorporated into job requirements and performance evaluation
  • Select individuals that are committed to green at home and at work
  • Recognize accomplishments
  • Engage team in structured prioritization activities and goal setting
  • Create an environment of creativity and keep an open forum
  • Balance required and voluntary participation
  • Conduct team building exercises
  • Have participation project based / time constrained
  • Meet with other green teams to brainstorm and problem solve

Building Operator Certification Training Rebate

Contact Eric Roach, Senior Program Associate at Midwest Energy Efficiency Alliance (MEEA) at 312-784-7277 or eroach@mwalliance.org, for more information. Building Operator Certification (BOC®) is a nationally recognized training and certification program that offers facilities personnel the improved job skills and knowledge to transform workplaces to be more comfortable, energy-efficient and environmentally friendly. 

By participating in BOC, Retrofit Chicago’s Buildings Initiative participants will:

  • Save energy and money for their facilities – approximately 75,000 kWh and 200 therms for a 200,000 ft2 facility, equivalent to nearly $7,000 at Midwest energy prices;
  • Strengthen local economic development by providing building operators with enhanced job skills and an industry-recognized professional credential (over 50% of BOC graduates report increases both in job responsibilities and compensation); and
  • Improve the comfort and safety of their building occupants by learning to increase communication with tenants and implement practical no- and low-cost solutions.

Cost, Rebate and Funding Details

  • Click here for the energy and cost savings summary.
  • Tuition for the BOC Level I series is only $1,250 per student, and employers who are customers of Ameren Illinois, ComEd, Peoples Gas, North Shore Gas, or Nicor may be eligible for a $500 tuition rebate upon the student’s achievement of certification.
  • The Cook County Workforce Partnership (CCWP) has funding available for building operators that reside in Cook County. CCWP can cover $750 of the $1,250 tuition cost. Funding requirements include completing an application, copy of a driver’s license and verification of Selective Service registration (found here).
  • Combining CCWP’s funding and the $500 rebate brings the tuition cost to $0.

Series Schedule and Registration

  • Click here for the schedule.
  • Series begins on March 14th, ends on May 30th. Registration deadline is March 7th.
  • Enrollment is limited to 30 students.
  • Students can register here and
  • Please contact Eric Roach at 312-784-7277 or for more details.

Peoples Gas Double Rebates

We recapped Jim Hauser's presentation at last month's peer exchange meeting. Jim is with Peoples Gas/Franklin Energy shared with us the double rebates Peoples Gas has available for a limited time.

Below are a few highlights of the double rebates. For more details view Jim's presentation.

  • Prescriptive rebates are doubled through April 30 2013.
  • $120 per steam trap or $300-$400 per high pressure steam trap.
  • With $0.80 / MBH saved, boiler tune-ups in some cases can be fully paid for with rebates.
  • Demand Control Ventilation upgrades receives an extra $0.50/therm.
  • $8 / ft for pipe insulation.
  • $80 for programmable thermostats.

Rebate examples:

  • Shriners Hospital to receive ~$17K in Peoples Gas rebates for a Linkage-less burner controls on 4 boilers. Rebate is 44% of project cost. Payback is 1.3 years.
  • Mt. Sinai Intelli-hood demand control ventilation retrofit has an estimated $14,816 rebate, a 1.6 year payback, and energy savings of 7,507 therms/year.
  • Resurrection retirement facility had Peoples Gas install low flow showerheads, CFLs, and faucet aerators in 670 units. Savings are $29,851 in natural gas and water saving and 18,090 therms/year. Because of the rebates, the net result was no cost for Resurrection.
  • Advocate is pursuing a $1.9 million burner project which will result in a $900,000 rebate with a ROI of less than one year.

For immediate assistance taking advantage of the rebates contact Jim Hauser or Paige Knutsen with Peoples Gas/Franklin Energy. Jim and team will not only help identify and assess the energy saving opportunities but they can also complete the Peoples Gas rebate application. Contact Jim at jhauser@franklinenergy.com; O: 312.878.0038; C: 815.614.0555 or Paige Knutsen at pknutsen@franklinenergy.com; O: 312.878.0038; C: 847.942.0016

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