Albany Medical Center
Albany Medical Center Creates Healthier Environment with On-site Energy Management
Number of Sites: 17
Total Square Feet: 2,000,000
Annual Electric Savings: 8,500,000 kWh
Annual Cost Savings: $640,000
Overview
Albany Medical Center is Upstate New York’s only academic health science center and Level 1 trauma center. The 766-bed hospital offers the widest range of medical and surgical services in the region. The on-site Medical College includes a biomedical research enterprise and the region’s largest physician’s practice with more than 450 doctors. In addition, Albany Medical Center partners with several businesses throughout the community to further improve the region’s health and quality of life.
The main campus totals approximately 2,000,000 square feet. It houses a range of facilities, including clinical laboratories, 37 operating rooms, exam rooms, and classrooms. With such a diverse portfolio of buildings to optimize, Albany Medical Center opted to participate in the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) On-site Energy Manager (OsEM) program to help manage energy use.
Rolling Out the Plan
Overall, Albany Medical Center sought to reduce energy usage across the campus by 2% annually. The hospital’s first action: to develop an energy management plan, which was distributed to facilities supervisors and building foreman for feedback. The plan was well received. Foremen provided suggestions for their buildings as well as for buildings they had previously supervised. Albany Medical Center decided to engage a full-time OsEM employee, with plans to continue the position after the engagement ended.
Results
The OsEM began by focusing on the two largest utility accounts: the main site and the South Clinical Campus. Once projects were selected and funded for those sites, construction began and the OsEM expanded the program to 15 off-site locations. Total identified energy savings is 3.6% of the baseline usage. A template was created for payback analysis for each project, which was presented to the Center’s CFO and COO for approval. By utilizing utility rebates, many projects had paybacks of less than one year and funding was quickly approved.
Projects at the main site included new, high-efficiency chillers, adding variable speed drives to pumps, and modification of operating sequences. The existing chiller plant was modified to a variable primary loop. In addition, lighting upgrades in some areas and installing new fixtures in others was implemented across all buildings. The OsEM met with employees to explain the lighting control system, demonstrate lighting levels, and implementing schedules.
To reduce utility expenses, the main account enrolled in a community solar project, where the medical center will be the anchor tenant. With no up-front costs, the delivery portion of the electric bill will be reduced by approximately 13%.
The Future
Seeing the value of a dedicated OsEM, administration plans to continue with the position—the savings achieved cover the salary of the position. Albany Medical Center is affiliated with three other hospitals, which together comprise the largest locally governed health system in the region. The plan moving forward is to have the OsEM work with these facilities, providing guidance on energy management, benchmarking, and best practices implementation. An expansion of the community solar program to off-site accounts is also in process.
The NYSERDA On-site Energy Manager Program
Through the On-site Energy Manager (OsEM) Pilot Program, NYSERDA cost-shares up to 75% of the cost to hire an OsEM. OsEMs work with companies to develop and implement successful energy and productivity projects. Projects may include operation and maintenance improvements, behavioral changes, energy efciency upgrades, process improvements, throughput and scrap reduction improvements, and cost management.