Hospitals

Hospitals are excellent candidates for CHP systems because they have high electrical and thermal energy needs that generally follow each other and have significant energy demands 24/7/365. Many hospitals across the country are discovering the power of CHP for improving their bottom line and operational capabilities. More than 200 hospitals and healthcare facilities nationwide are using CHP to lower energy costs by up to 50% and decrease power outages and interruptions by up to 95%.

Potential benefits of hospital CHP include:

• Lower energy bills
  Hospitals are major users of electrical and thermal energy. An on-site CHP system can economically power everything from building systems, such as air conditioning and ventilation, to operating room life-support equipment.

• Improved reliability and power quality
  CHP can address the momentary interruptions that require equipment resets, patient inconvenience and lost revenue.

State and local laws typically require hospitals to have emergency back-up generators to pick up critical and emergency building loads in the event of a loss of power from the grid. However, these emergency systems often fail perform during power outages, leaving hospitals without electricity when it is needed most.

The Great Blackout of 2003 exposed this problem, with near tragic consequences. Air conditioners were shut down in many institutions, elective procedures canceled, and patients moved from hospitals with failed generators to those with working systems. (Clifford J. Levy with Kate Zernike, "Lessons Learned on 9/11 Help Hospitals Respond", New York Times 8/16/03 ).

Additionally, back-up generators represent "dead assets" to hospital management. They are run infrequently and do not contribute to the hospitals' profitability.

More and more hospitals are recognizing the many advantages of CHP over backup generation.

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