Cutting energy use in hospitals with renewables

Cutting energy use in hospitals with renewables

The U.S. Department of Energy's Commercial Buildings Program and National Renewable Energy Laboratory announced that they are working with the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers and the general buildings industry to research means to reduce the energy used by high-level consumers such as large hospitals, schools and retail buildings. The partnerships resulted in a series of guidelines for energy design that could help facilitate a 50 percent savings for buildings designed for high-level consumers, achievable by making electric choices that are designed to be "easy to implement."
Shanti Pless, NREL Senior Research Engineer and Chair of the Advanced Energy Design Guidelines project, revealed that the AEDG series "represents the best practices in industry for energy efficiency in buildings."
Given the fact that U.S. hospitals spend more than $5 billion a year on energy, which on average equals 1 to 3 percent of a hospital's budget for operating, Pless said, "We felt this industry needed resources, and there weren't many out there helping them to achieve 50 percent savings in energy."
The NREL has been operating for roughly 35 years, aiming to help facilitate the emergence of the green energy industry, and is reportedly the only national laboratory that is dedicated to advancing the renewable energy industry and energy efficiency technologies from the initial concept phase through to commercial applications.