CASE IN POINT

Improved system monitoring lets hospital sleuth and save

The hospital was able to identify and correct a previously undetected AHU setpoint override that was causing additional heating and need-less expense.

Located in the South Atlantic is a children’s hospital that is one of the largest non-profit public systems in the United States. The hospital aims to provide top quality medical care to children without the need to travel far from home. It also has a goal to reduce energy consumption and decrease emissions while continuing to deliver excellent medical care for its patients.

The children’s hospital set a goal to reduce energy consumption and GHG emissions while maintaining a high level of air quality and patient comfort. To this end, the facility was interested in implementing energy conservation measures and technologies, which help achieve these goals while taking into account their specific needs as a healthcare facility.

As part of the Healthier Hospitals Initiative (HHI), the hospital committed to the challenges of engaging leadership, leaner energy, and less waste. The HHI is a national campaign to implement a completely new approach to improving environmental health and sustainability in the health care sector.

Cimetrics was selected to provide its Analytika Pro solution for the hospital. Within the 241,000-sq-ft facility there are primarily patient care rooms, an intensive care unit, offices, and play spaces. Cimetrics collaborated with the hospital and their building automation system provider to connect to and collect sensor and actuator data from over 4,000 physical points. Data was collected every 15 minutes, 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, for a total of approximately 400,000 data samples per day. The following systems were monitored: six AHUs, two hot water pumps, two chilled water pumps, 19 fan coil units, 24 fume hoods, 325 terminal units, and other miscellaneous equipment.

Over 1,000 Analytika software algorithms then analyzed the data to identify opportunities to reduce energy; improve environmental conditions, maintenance, operations; and reduce regulatory costs. Analytika also uncovered potential equipment problems, opportunities for profitable retrofit projects, occupant comfort improvement, and operational uptime improvements.

Experienced Cimetrics engineers leveraged Analytika software to identify opportunities, determine root cause, and calculate annual savings impact. Actionable recommendations were documented and provided to the client both through online and offline channels. According to Cimetrics, its role didn’t end at recommendations. Cimetrics engineers engaged with the client team on a regular basis to help answer questions, coordinate implementation, and provide regular feedback on progress.

As a result, the hospital is expecting to save $83,759 annually in energy. The simple payback is 0.23 years with the net present value at $51,343. The implementation rate of recommendations was 90%.

Other operational benefits included Joint Commission assistance. Temperature and relative humidity control in critical care rooms was tracked and maintained. Each closed fume hood saves 50,000 lbs of CO₂ in a year, or 60% on energy.

In the area of resource management, the hospital used impact analysis to prioritize workload for internal maintenance staff and contracted controls personnel to maximize progress towards corporate goals.

The AHU discharge air temperature (DAT) setpoint had been overridden from the sequence of operation and reduced from 55?F to 51?F. As a result, the cooling coil valve was opening to maintain the lower DAT and consequently requiring additional heating downstream. This resulted in additional heating and cooling costs. This issue was not noticeable in the zones due to proper zone temperature control and lack of comfort complaints; however, it was identified with Analytika.

Cimetrics worked with the controls vendor to restore the discharge air temperature of this AHU to 55?F. This resulted in appropriate temperatures at all locations using less cooling and heating energy. Additionally, a discharge air temperature reset routine was initiated to further increase savings and improve system operations.

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