With the recent volatility in prices for coal and natural gas, energy conservation has become not only essential for environmental sustainability, but many organizations are finding it necessary to reduce their energy consumption for financial reasons. One of the most important initial steps that organizations must participate in before starting an energy reduction program is for them to conduct a full scale energy assessment.
While much of the focus of recent energy conservation efforts has been in the manufacturing and transportation industries, the healthcare industry is one that has often been neglected. What has made energy conservation even more of a necessity in healthcare has been the rise in costs associated with medical procedures and medical insurance.
One organization that is currently researching processes for conducting robust energy assessments is the Environmentally Conscious Design and Manufacturing Laboratory, funded by the University of Toledo College of Engineering and the Lucas County Solid Waste Management District. This lab, which has been in existence since 1996, has performed a number of solid waste assessments and has only recently been performing energy assessments. Following the 2006 merger between the University of Toledo and the Medical University of Ohio, the research lab has taken much more of an interest in researching medical facilities.
The purpose of this is to examine how an energy assessment process can be adopted for use in a medical facility. Included in this study is a case study of an energy assessment that was performed on a 292 bed hospital in Northwest Ohio.