Strategic Energy and Maintenance Program: Temperature and Control to Critical Care Areas

St. Catherine Hospital partnered with BCS to address temperature and humidity control issues in critical care areas and decrease energy costs. Through a detailed condition assessment, the team identified improvements that have saved the hospital $180,000 in the first year of their SEMP. These efforts have reinforced St. Catherine’s commitment to excellence and Leaner Energy as a part of the Healthier Hospitals initiative.

The Challenge

St. Catherine Hospital had difficulty maintaining required temperature and humidity ranges in their surgery suites, lab, and intensive care units. There was a lack of redundancy due to load requirements, and the hospital was forced to designate a team to respond to critical care work orders. This resulted in mounting issues in other areas of the hospital, due to system deficiencies. A second challenge was addressing the cooling system and control issues prior to the heat of summer.

The Solution

Temperature and Humidity Control

The crux of the hospital’s program was addressing the temperature and humidity control issues in the critical care areas. Through the comprehensive systems analysis, we discovered undersized piping, non-functional valves, and improper pump sizing that together were causing an insufficient amount of chilled water to flow to the necessary parts of the hospital. Once we installed a new proportionate piping network, the areas were able to maintain regulatory levels successfully and cost-effectively.

Equipment Repairs

Piping modifications, equipment repairs, and new building technologies enabled the team to optimize the chiller plant operations and control air changes in the surgical suites. The improved flow has resulted in a much more efficient use of the chillers, which enables periods of 100% free cooling and redundancy year-round. Rather than spending money to replace equipment, the system modifications have given the hospital much-needed cooling redundancy and smooth running.

Building Intelligence Program (BIP)

To improve hospital data analytics, we implemented our Building Intelligence Program (BIP). This allows maintenance staff to monitor, analyze, and run reports on building HVAC in real-time. The building information from BIP enables maintenance staff to make informed decisions on facility operations, thus improving service quality. We were also able to use fault detection to ensure temperature and humidity levels remain in compliance at all times.

The Results

The Strategic Energy and Maintenance Program the BCS team created for St. Catherine Hospital ensured proper temperature and humidity in critical care areas, reduced energy costs, deferred maintenance, and improved building technologies.

The $1.1 million structured financed program provided the hospital with facility improvement measures resulting in over $199,000 in annual savings in the first year and $ 1 million in cost avoidance.