Upgrading electrical, cooling and heating systems to improve energy efficiency and reduce the annual cost of purchasing steam by about $450,000.
Hotel Dieu Hospital
Hotel Dieu Hospital is an ambulatory care teaching hospital serving more than 500,000 people in Kingston and southeastern Ontario. The hospital, which traces its history to the 1840s, has been at its present location since the late 1890s. It is committed to energy-cost savings and environmental leadership.
"We want to ensure our dollars go to our first priority, which is patient care," says Edward Darby, vice-president of planning, Kingston General Hospital, Providence Care and Hotel Dieu Hospital. "Hospitals consume a lot of energy and, therefore, there is significant potential for savings."
In 2005, the hospital launched a $5-million energy-savings and renovation project. Following an extensive review of proposals and project evaluations, a final contract was signed with Ecosystem in 2007. The financing included funds through the Ontario Power Authority's Electricity Retrofit Incentive Program (ERIP) that became available in 2007. The goal was a significant reduction in the use of steam, with projected savings in the range of $450,000 annually.
The hospital had been purchasing up to 50 million pounds of steam annually from Queen's University's central steam natural gas plant. The steam is used for heating the hospital, sterilization and domestic hot water.
To meet its objective of energy-related cost savings, Hotel Dieu Hospital entered into a five-year agreement in 2007 with Ecosystem. The Markham-based energy service company designs and installs energy-saving equipment, systems and procedures that guarantee savings.
Advanced computer technologies and controls were installed, including replacing and upgrading thousands of fluorescent fixtures, and installing LED exit lights and variable speed motors on pumps and air-handling equipment. The estimated five-percent reduction to the hospital's 9.8-million-kilowatt electricity consumption is expected to produce $18,000 in savings annually.
Over the past two years, the engineering and instrumentation changes have been completed. The commissioning work began in March to make sure the systems are performing as designed.
"This is a large part of maximizing our savings," Mr. Darby says. "You don't just flip the switch and you're there. Software control systems have to be adjusted and optimized to get the savings we predicted.
"It's still a work in progress. We haven't reached an end point," he adds.
The project has three major components: cooling, electrical and lighting retrofits and the heating system.
On the cooling side, major work included installing two 625-ton chillers, replacing the cooling tower and reconfiguring cooling loops.
The lighting retrofit involved replacing all T12 fluorescent lamps with T8 fixtures, which translates into "a major savings to be seen," says Rob McGlashan, the Hospital's director of facilities.
Electricity costs also were reduced by installing variable speed drives and replacing motors on intake-exhaust fans that are critical for moving air into the hospital and loops. The savings result from the fact that the hospital no longer has motors running continuously for areas that might be occupied only during weekdays.
Such unnecessary usage is typical of buildings designed in the days of cheap energy, Mr. Darby says. "The project focused on saving more money by using electricity more efficiently."
The installation of a 250-ton heat-recovery chiller is at the centre of reduced steam use. The chiller functions as a very large heat pump - in the winter, it extracts heat from the building's exhaust air and brings it back into the building as heat.
"Heat pumps are common in homes, but using a heat pump on this scale is novel," Mr. Darby says.
This more efficient method of heating the building is anticipated to allow the hospital to reduce its use of more costly steam by 60 percent.
Through the local distribution company, Kingston Hydro, the Ontario Power Authority provided $81,000 for the $5-million project through its Electricity Retrofit Incentive Program (ERIP). Natural Resources Canada also provided funding.
The advantage of using an energy services company such as Ecosystem is that savings are guaranteed and it reduces the risk for the hospital on the project. Without the incentives, the payback period would be much longer. "If it were not for the grants, I think the project would have been much more modest," Mr. Darby says.
The largest savings from the project is an estimated $450,000 to $500,000 annual savings from reduced spending on steam heat.
One of the main components of the program was to use hot water instead of steam to distribute heat throughout the hospital because hot water loses less heat. This involved replacing the much larger steam pipes with smaller hot water pipes. As well, less energy is required to keep hot water at a high temperature (120°F) than is required for steam (325°F).
The retrofit of the lighting fixtures throughout the hospital and installation of energy-efficient drives and fans reduced electricity use by about 500,000 kilowatts a year, which represents a saving of about $18,000. The reduced use of energy also will significantly cut the emission of greenhouse gases, Mr. Darby adds.
Mr. Darby expects the final stages in commissioning the system will be completed by July 2009. "The engine is running, but it has to be tuned to maximize the energy savings we are expecting.”
The three major challenges faced were obtaining approval from the hospital's board of directors, securing an energy service company provider and planning the actual implementation.
"This was not straightforward. We had to recognize that we cannot just shut down the hospital while we do the work. The hospital has to maintain its services," Mr. McGlashan says.
"We faced extremely tight time frames for the demolition, reinstalls, plumbing and commissioning. The time period is tight from February to April, and after that it becomes a gamble because of frequent changes in weather," he says.
Although it was time-consuming to put together a tender, the hospital was able to draw on the experience and information available from other Ontario hospitals. "This was a major help in cutting down the time and resources that would have otherwise been required," Mr. Darby says.
While the amount of electricity saved through the project was small in comparison to the cost savings from reducing steam use, Kingston Hydro played an important role by providing valuable information.
The project also had the added benefit of upgrading some of the hospital's older infrastructure, which needed to be replaced.
"For example, we replaced older chillers and the cooling tower. Energy savings will be paying for some of equipment that should have been replaced anyway," Mr. Darby says.
"We're able to pay for the new equipment out of energy savings, enabling us to put more money into patient care, which is our main objective," he says.
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