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Facilities Manager Peer Exchange Meeting

October 19, 2012

 

Participating Hospitals

  • Advocate Health Care & Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center (IMMC) 
  • Jesse Brown VA Medical Center
  • Mt. Sinai Hospital & Schwab Rehabilitation Institute
  • Mercy Hospital & Medical Center
  • Northwestern Memorial Hospital
  • Norwegian American Hospital
  • Rush University Medical Center – Meeting Host
  • Saint Bernard Hospital
  • Saint Joseph Hospital/Presence Health Care
  • Shriners Hospital for Children - Chicago
  • Swedish Covenant
  • University of Chicago Medical Center
  • Vanguard Health Chicago

Here are some pictures from the Peer Exchange Meeting:

 

 

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).

Meeting Agenda and Overview Presentation

 

Sustainable Chicago 2015 Action Agenda

Chicago’s Chief Sustainability Officer, Karen Weigert, attended the meeting and talked with the group about the recently introduced Sustainable Chicago 2015 Action Agenda. Karen commended the hospitals on their sustainability accomplishments and the relevance of their work in achieving the City’s goals. Clinton Foundation/C40 Chicago City Director, Jamie Ponce, joined us as well and spoke about the connection of the CGHI work to his work with the Clinton Foundation/C40 Cities.

Follow-Ups From Prior Meetings

We quickly reviewed a few follow-ups from prior peer exchange meetings.

  • CGHI Website: We highlighted the CGHI Initiative Statistics as well as aggregate energy consumption and EEPS contribution amounts and Energy Star Ratings. Please login to the website to access the aggregate information.
  • LED Implementation Tracking Spreadsheet. Please login to the website to access the current version of the spreadsheet or contact the CGHI team for a copy.
  • Beta Tests: We continue to talk with vendors about having hospitals beta test products. If you have possible product suggestions please contact the CGHI team.

Setting Energy Reduction Goals

During our first Peer Exchange meeting on June 15th 2012, Advocate's Energy Manager Joe Buri presented Energy Star Guidelines for Energy Management which consist of the following steps.

  • Step 1: Make Commitment
  • Step 2: Assess Performance
  • Step 3: Set Goals
  • Step 4: Create Action Plan
  • Step 5: Implement Action Plan
  • Step 6: Evaluate Progress
  • Step 7: Recognize Achievements

The following picture depicts the process flow associated with these steps.

During this meeting, Joe presented information on Advocate's approach to Step 3: Set Goals.

Highlights include:

  • CEO made the commitment and this change in culture has made the difference.
  • Advocate's goal is a 20% reduction by 2015 from 2008 baseline and an Energy Star minimum of 75 for hospitals.
  • The 20% reduction goal was not calculated to be an exact achievable goal so much as it was set as a stretch goal, with saving money as the driver
  • The goal only refers to inpatient care facilities
  • Advocate meters everything possible and establishes connections with their building automation system.
  • The greater plug loads make it tougher to show savings, even with efficiency gains.
  • To achieve the goals, one needs to audit the facility, get projects into the capital budget, evaluate progress, and recognize achievements.

Additional group comments:

  • The US Department of Energy has set a goal of 30% below 2005 by 2015 for federal buildings.
  • Hospitals across the country have set various energy and GHG reduction goals, renewable energy procurement goals, and carbon neutral date goals.

Retro-Commissioning

We weren't able to discuss retro-commissioning as planned because we were running behind schedule. We did highlight a Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory study that showed that buildings participating in retro-commissioning saw

  • 16% median energy savings of baseline energy consumption
  • 1.1 years median payback for RCx measures
  • 5% reduction in baseline peak demand

Peoples Gas Double Rebates

Jim Hauser 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 November 30, with a 50% bonus from December 1-31.
  • $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 Finnegan 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 Finnegan at pfinnegan@franklinenergy.com; O: 312.878.0038; C: 847.942.0016

Meeting Announcements:

  • Mayor Emanuel launches Sustainable Chicago 2015 Action Agenda.
  • ComEd's Smart Ideas Program has a Fall Bonus. 
  • Take the Grumman Butkus Hospital Energy and Water Benchmarking Survey.
  • Healthier Hospitals Initiative (HHI) – Debra announced that Health Care Without Harm (HCWH) launched a national campaign called the Healthier Hospitals Initiative (HHI) in order to help hospitals accelerate improvements in six key areas:  Leaner Energy, Less Waste, Healthier Food, Safer Chemicals, Smarter Purchasing and Engaged Leadership.  Each of the HHI Challenge areas comes with specific and actionable “implementation packages” as well as metrics to track progress in each area.  Hospitals can participate in HHI free of charge by signing up for any of the six Challenges.  For example, if you signed up for the Level 1 Energy Challenge, which is to reduce your metered energy use by 3% between now and April 2015, then you would have access to the Energy How To Guide, national webinars and other support. www.healthierhospitals.org

 Next Facilities Manager Peer Exchange Meeting