California Energy Commission Grant

The California Energy Commission solicited a grant to fund a comprehensive and interactive guidebook that focuses on existing and emerging energy efficiency equipment and systems and design improvements to reduce natural gas use, increase energy efficiency, and provide a plan for decarbonizing the healthcare industry.

Problem

Healthcare buildings, such as hospitals, are the second largest consumer of energy per unit of floor area of all building types. Large, sophisticated heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) systems and water heating systems are required to satisfy the demand of these facilities that have 24/7 operation and are occupied by thousands of patients, employees, and visitors every day. These systems consume a substantial amount of natural gas statewide. Healthcare-related greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the United States unfortunately increased 30 percent between 2006 and 2016, while other sectors have made progress to reduce GHG emissions. To help achieve California’s important climate change policies and goals there is an immediate need to identify advanced energy efficiency solutions for hospitals that will reduce natural gas use, increase energy efficiency, and reduce energy costs, while maintaining or improving patient safety and hospital operations. Achieving these goals will require developing clear guidance for key stakeholders – engineers, designers, hospital operators, and regulatory agencies – so they can deploy state-of-the-art energy efficiency approaches that will minimize natural gas use and decarbonize hospitals.

Solution

The Decarbonizing Healthcare Guidebook: A Living Resource for Emerging Energy Efficiency Equipment and Systems Project (Project) will provide a comprehensive and interactive guidebook on existing and emerging energy efficiency equipment and systems. The Decarbonizing Healthcare Guidebook (Guidebook) will include customized design improvements to help substantially reduce natural gas use, increase efficiency, and provide a clear path to decarbonizing hospitals. Recipient will collaborate with hospital engineers and designers, as well as state regulatory agencies and healthcare nonprofits and organizations, to develop a design guide. This interactive tool is intended to aid hospitals in the planning and design of retrofit projects to substantially reduce operating costs and meet the state’s decarbonization goals. The Guidebook will serve as a reference tool for hospital owners, operators, designers, architects, engineers, and regulators to understand the benefits of using advanced technologies and designs to minimize natural gas use, reduce GHG emissions, reduce healthcare costs and provide benefits for investor owned utility (IOU) ratepayers. To accommodate new and future technologies and to maintain the Guidebook’s relevance beyond the term of the grant agreement, Recipient will develop both a publishable (print version) and an interactive online version of the Guidebook. These dual options will provide a Guidebook accessible to hospitals throughout California and beyond

Goals of the grant-funded project

• Identify advanced technology solutions to help hospitals reduce or eliminate the use of natural gas for HVAC, hot water systems and other uses
• Collaborate with hospital engineers and designers and state regulatory agencies to ensure that the Guidebook will be an effective tool that provides guidance on advanced technologies
• Provide a resource to identify pathways and incentives to reduce natural gas consumption in hospitals
• Develop an interactive online guidebook (living resource) to accommodate new and future technologies and maintain relevance beyond the grant term
• Provide environmental and economic benefits for IOU ratepayers
• Enable the increased deployment of advanced technologies to achieve the state’s statutory energy goals, including AB 32/SB 32, AB 758, and SB 350