This renovation gives us an opportunity to give our patients what they need. It’s one of my dreams come true.
Consulting Engineering
Baptist Health Lexington
Less Energy Usage = More Patient Care
Paducah, Kentucky
Guided by its ESG plan and ‘commitment to developing a sustainable culture through environmental stewardship,’ Bon Secours Mercy Health partnered with CMTA in 2021 to collect energy and utility data from its older facilities. This included benchmarking data to compare one facility to another across its network to understand each building’s performance. The exercise uncovered that one of their smaller hospitals, Mercy Lourdes Hospital - a regional hospital building with 306 beds, had one of the highest energy cost per square foot of any hospital in the network.
Based on the systems and energy data collected, BSMH and CMTA worked together to implement a retro-commissioning process with a focus on low cost and no changes to achieve improved energy performance and efficiency in Lourdes Hospital’s older systems.
A common misconception about retro-commissioning is that it’s meant to reset the systems back to how they were originally designed to operate. But retro-commissioning is meant to optimize the system for how it can best operate in the here and now to support the current and updated building needs.
After reviewing over 30 major HVAC systems and implementing over 27 low to no cost strategies, CMTA’s retro-commissioning process saved nearly 8% in energy usage, a 63 EUI reduction, which equated to $181,000 in utility savings within the first year of operation. In addition, the carbon footprint was reduced by over 95 metric tons per year and reduced water usage by nearly 672,000 gallons per year. This process also included a roadmap for future energy and cost saving projects.
The following were the main strategies implemented for Lourdes Hospital:
- Static Pressure Optimization across air handlers
- Airflow reduction through aged units far over-supplying code required air changes to the space
- VAV Reprogramming across hospital air handlers based on scheduling and occupancy needs of the buildings
- Outside air damper re-programming across hospital units
Lourdes Hospital
[{"x":"JAN","Baseline":"29.0","Performed":"30.1"},{"x":"FEB","Baseline":"61.3","Performed":"61.3"},{"x":"MAR","Baseline":"94.7","Performed":"91.4"},{"x":"APR","Baseline":"128.5","Performed":"122.0"},{"x":"MAY","Baseline":"160.8","Performed":"152.3"},{"x":"JUN","Baseline":"192.5","Performed":"179.7"},{"x":"JUL","Baseline":"223.2","Performed":"209.5"},{"x":"AUG","Baseline":"255.6","Performed":"237.7"},{"x":"SEP","Baseline":"290.5","Performed":"272.8"},{"x":"OCT","Baseline":"326.7","Performed":"304.5"},{"x":"NOV","Baseline":"358.1","Performed":"319.1"},{"x":"DEC","Baseline":"390.0","Performed":"335.9"}]
