ASHE: Green strategies key to energy savings
Heating, ventilation and air conditioning “setback strategies” offer opportunities for substantial reductions in operating room expenses, according to a new monograph from the American Society for Healthcare Engineering (ASHE) of the American Hospital Association.
“Operating Room HVAC Setback Strategies” lays out the setback concept and suggests ways to implement it. The monograph describes how energy can be saved, for example, by curtailing air supply to ORs during downtime, as well as monitoring temperature and humidity settings.
“While doing this research and talking with experienced design engineers from across the country, it became clear that a source of confusion for facilities engineers and owners was likely the range of solutions available for energy savings in operating rooms,” Christy Love, contributing author and environmental performance analyst, said in a statement. “To narrow these solutions down we sifted through specifics, distilled the commonalities and identified the objective considerations that would help any owner move toward the best solution for their facility.”
The Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy have noted that healthcare organizations spend more than $6.5 billion annually on energy.
Click here to download the monograph.
“Operating Room HVAC Setback Strategies” lays out the setback concept and suggests ways to implement it. The monograph describes how energy can be saved, for example, by curtailing air supply to ORs during downtime, as well as monitoring temperature and humidity settings.
“While doing this research and talking with experienced design engineers from across the country, it became clear that a source of confusion for facilities engineers and owners was likely the range of solutions available for energy savings in operating rooms,” Christy Love, contributing author and environmental performance analyst, said in a statement. “To narrow these solutions down we sifted through specifics, distilled the commonalities and identified the objective considerations that would help any owner move toward the best solution for their facility.”
The Environmental Protection Agency and the Department of Energy have noted that healthcare organizations spend more than $6.5 billion annually on energy.
Click here to download the monograph.