ASHE recognizes 21 hospitals for exceptional environmental performance

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The one health care facilities honor guaranteed to make other hospitals green with envy is also the accolade that celebrates green achievements: the Energy to Care^® Program Sustainability Champions Award, bestowed annually by the American Society for Health Care Engineering (ASHE) on deserving candidates across the country.

In 2024, an unprecedented 21 health care facilities achieved this recognition by customizing outstanding programs and demonstrating robust leadership, devoted personnel and a profound dedication to sustainability deeply embedded in the culture of each organization. The 2024 awardees are Ascension NE Wisconsin – Mercy Campus in Oshkosh; Ascension NE Wisconsin – St. Elizabeth Campus in Appleton; Ascension Seton Williamson in Round Rock, Texas; Ascension St. Vincent’s Clay County in Middleburg, Fla.; Ascension St. Vincent Warrick in Boonville, Ind.; Aurora Lakeland Medical Center in Elkhorn, Wis.; Aurora Medical Center – Oshkosh (Wis.); Aurora Medical Center – Grafton (Wis.); Aurora Medical Center – Burlington (Wis.); Aurora Medical Center – Manitowoc County in Two Rivers, Wis.; Aurora Medical Center – Summit (Wis.); Aurora Sinai Medical Center in Milwaukee; Aurora St. Luke’s South Shore in Cudahy, Wis.; St. Luke’s Medical Center in Milwaukee; Atrium Health Lincoln in Lincolnton, N.C.; Atrium Health Mercy in Charlotte, N.C.; Atrium Health Pineville in Charlotte, N.C.; Atrium Health Union in Monroe, N.C.; Pali Momi Medical Center in Aiea, Hawaii; Parkland Health – Main Campus in Dallas; and University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Northwest in Seneca, Pa.

Among the criteria to win the award, each of these facilities had to carefully track energy, water and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the Energy to Care Dashboard, provide Professional Engineer verification, be an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ENERGY STAR^®-certified hospital (certified in 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022 or 2023), achieve an ENERGY STAR score of 75 or higher, have a published sustainability statement, employ a designated sustainability champion or sustainability lead and establish a green team.

Amidst a crowded pool of contenders, these winning organizations — which were recognized at the 2024 Health Care Facilities Innovation Conference™ held in late July in Anaheim, Calif. — distinguished themselves as sustainability standard bearers, according to Kara Brooks, MS, LEED AP BD+C, senior associate director of sustainability for the American Hospital Association. She notes that the field of winners has grown every year since the award’s inception in 2022, when there were three champions, followed by 10 winners in 2023.

“This year there were 21 Sustainability Champions, which is a new record. I believe the growth we have seen in this award in recent years can be attributed to the commitment health systems around the country are making to elevate their sustainability missions and goals,” says Brooks. “With the focus on making sustainability a priority in health care, hospitals are finding ways for their facilities to operate as efficiently as possible.”

Hospitals face significant hurdles in achieving sustainability goals as they work to minimize their ecological footprint. Consider that the health care sector is responsible for an estimated 8.5% of annual GHG emissions in the United States, emphasizing the vital role medical centers and hospitals play in decarbonization endeavors around the planet. However, with escalating demands for power driven by increased lighting, heating and water requirements, large health care organizations find it increasingly difficult to adopt energy-saving measures.

What makes earning a Sustainability Champions Award so special is that these recipients have proactively tackled these troubles by employing diverse and innovative efficiency strategies designed to generate energy savings, reduce carbon dioxide emissions and decrease overall carbon footprints. Their approaches include adopting greener materials and LED lighting; embracing renewable energy sources like geothermal, wind and solar power; fine-tuning thermostats, occupancy sensors, heating, ventilating and air-conditioning (HVAC) equipment and water sensors; and adjusting operational schedules for enhanced efficiency.

“What is quite impressive is the mix of repeat winners and new winners,” says Austin Wallace, sustainability senior specialist with ASHE. “There are a handful of facilities for which this is the first time they have been recognized with this award, cementing them as leaders in the health care sustainability space. Additionally, there are organizations that year after year have representation from their highest performing hospitals on this list. Both groups use this award to highlight the incredible efforts of their engineering and facilities teams,” he says.

“Additionally, when reviewing applications, I found the amount of organizational support to be impressive,” Wallace says. “Many of the Sustainability Champions have green team members from across all disciplines found in the health care space, from nurses and lab technicians to engineers and physicians. This goes to show the importance that organizations are putting on sustainability efforts throughout the entire health system.”

The accolade, originally titled the ASHE Energy to Care Champion Award in 2016, was rechristened the Energy to Care Sustainability Champions Award in 2022 to emphasize a wider focus on sustainability.

“These winning organizations are true leaders in the field, and I hope their achievements will inspire others to pursue sustainability initiatives, set ambitious goals, empower their staff and ultimately earn the award,” Brooks continues. “I also hope that more organizations will be motivated to apply for the award, as the 21 winners likely represent only a small portion of those eligible.”

The winners are profiled below

Ascension NE Wisconsin – Mercy Campus

Full steam ahead for this standout hospital

Ascension began a systemwide sustainability journey across many of its 140 hospitals more than 10 years ago and developed a long-term environmental impact and sustainability program in 2021 to continue efforts around energy conservation, waste management and environmentally preferred purchasing. Among its goals, Ascension pledged to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050 and reduce emissions by 50% by 2030.

Among the hospitals in its system that have benefited from these efforts, including Ascension’s “Keep Steam in the Pipes” program, is Ascension NE Wisconsin – Mercy Campus in Oshkosh. There, significant upgrades have been made to reduce heat loss in insulated pipes via steam traps and steam blankets and to make repairs and recover condensation.

Other improvements that have been implemented at the 2023 ENERGY STAR-certified hospital include retrocommissioning of its air-handling units (AHUs) so they operate more efficiently and the addition of continuous insulation, new LED lighting, occupancy light sensors throughout the health care facility and timers to dim lights in parking lots and front lobby areas.

“It’s a challenge to reduce the amount of steam that pipes can lose,” says Kyle Sunderlin, PE, energy project manager for facilities services provider Medxcel. “This newly installed equipment will lower heat loss in insulated pipes and require less natural gas to meet heating loads. The energy saved will directly contribute to Ascension’s goal of achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2040. Historically, LED lighting has always been the easiest first pass for energy-saving opportunities, but steam trap and steam repair is the LED retrofit of today.”

Ascension NE Wisconsin – St. Elizabeth Campus

Going green from the top down

Another standout in Ascension’s hospital system is Ascension NE Wisconsin – St. Elizabeth Campus in Appleton, which now has a green roof to help the facility better manage stormwater, improve air quality and reduce the urban heat island effect.

“The green roof is a visual representation of Ascension’s commitment to sustainability, and it supports energy reduction,” says Scott Czubkowski, PE, CHC, national director of energy and facility performance for Medxcel. “According to the EPA, green roofs remove heat from the air through evapotranspiration and act as insulators for buildings, reducing the energy needed to provide cooling and heating. As green roofs decrease the demand for heating and cooling, the building’s energy use and associated GHGs are lowered.”

Another initiative that helped the facility earn a Sustainability Champion Award was LED interior and exterior lighting retrofits and other energy control measures.

Ascension NE Wisconsin – St. Elizabeth Campus received a 2023 ENERGY STAR certification in part for optimizing its building automation system (BAS), including keeping it in “auto” mode to improve efficiency. The BAS programs allow an operator to monitor all connected building systems from a single interface. The hospital also earned a national 2024 Partner for Change Award from Practice Greenhealth for achievements in sustainability.

“Because our energy efficiency and sustainability efforts begin with the facilities teams, there is an emphasis on operator training and engagement,” says Andrew Fairbank, energy project manager for Medxcel. “Many team members at this site recently attended boiler training, which allowed them to more efficiently run their systems while holding a greater understanding of equipment performance.”

Ascension Seton Williamson

Breathing easier with more efficient ventilation

Sustainability achievements shine brightly at this hospital in Round Rock, Texas, the recent beneficiary of retrocommissioned AHUs. Thanks to this modernization, Ascension Seton Williamson can meet compliance standards without over-ventilating the site to achieve a more energy-efficient system. The hospital also enacted key measures from Ascension’s “Hospital Energy Performance Quick Wins,” an initiative to help operators optimize existing assets and improve a hospital’s energy efficiency.

“There was an opportunity to optimize existing assets, including those at this site of care, to improve Ascension Seton Williamson Hospital’s energy efficiency,” says Medxcel’s Andrew Fairbank. “Improvements focused on the central energy plant, BAS and AHUs.”

But progress at the ENERGY STAR-certified hospital didn’t stop there. Its kitchen is now home to a food waste digester, which uses organic microorganisms and oxygen to more efficiently break down food waste. This decreases the number of trips to the dumpster, municipal solid waste pickups and the need for pest management. Food waste also is a large producer of methane in landfills, so by reducing food waste sent to landfills, the hospital is helping to lower emissions from these landfills.

“There needs to be an understanding that achieving ENERGY STAR certification is not a single action but the culmination of many small steps aligned with a sustainable vision,” says Medxcel’s Kyle Sunderlin. “Hospitals should consider a holistic approach to sustainability, focusing on consistent, incremental actions that align with a long-term vision.”

Ascension St. Vincent’s Clay County

Fantastic anti-plastic initiative earns applause

There’s been increasing concern about the proliferation of plastics across the planet. Determined to curb this trend, Ascension St. Vincent’s Clay County in Middleburg, Fla., recently began participating in an ambitious pilot program to recycle plastics from clinical areas.

The hospital worked closely with a recycling services provider, which was already collecting mixed recycling, to expand its scope and accept clean rigid plastics, such as instrument trays.

It also became the first Ascension site to participate in Ascension’s Marketplace, a platform allowing sites to list and claim equipment to promote sustainability by reusing assets with additional life remaining, avoid new asset purchases and remove surplus assets from storage.

“Ascension St. Vincent’s Clay County is a leader in energy efficiency and waste diversion,” says Medxcel’s Scott Czubkowski. “This hospital is supporting healthier communities by lowering the amount of waste sent to landfills and reducing landfill emissions.”

The hospital additionally earned a national 2024 Partner for Change Award from Practice Greenhealth for achievements in sustainability.

“Ascension St. Vincent’s Clay County’s highly engaged leadership in sustainability initiatives helped them win these accolades,” says Bridget Randazzo, a sustainability analyst for Medxcel. “For example, the hospital sent unneeded products to local colleges for educational clinical practice, reducing the amount of waste sent to landfills.”

Ascension St. Vincent Warrick

Cleaner energy efforts matter

Many hospitals in the Ascension system recently participated in a widespread steam trap replacement program, and Ascension St. Vincent Warrick in Boonville, Ind., is no exception.

Replacing leaking or failed steam traps at the facility, adding steam blankets, implementing condensate repair and recovery efforts, and making high-pressure steam-to-hot water improvements have resulted in less natural gas needed to meet heating loads, which directly contributes to Ascension’s carbon reduction goals. The hospital also installed variable frequency drives, the technology that allows motors in pumps and air handlers to be adjusted to run at lower capacity depending on demand.

“Ascension St. Vincent Warrick is transitioning to cleaner energy sources to help reduce air pollution in the community it serves,” says Medxcel’s Andrew Fairbank. “The hospital also participates in our robust energy efficiency and data analytics program, which aligns the operations team with BAS best practices. These practices include maintaining ‘auto’ mode and limiting manual overrides. Continuous monitoring and discussions on energy performance play a crucial role in maintaining sustainability efforts.”

The green efforts don’t stop there. On Earth Day 2024, hospital staff planted flowering dogwood trees on-site and volunteered at a nearby community garden, cleaning vegetable beds and planting cabbage and lettuce.

“Other organizations can learn from this hospital’s efforts by aiming to foster a culture of recognition and support for facilities teams while implementing regular evaluations and discussions on energy usage to drive effective sustainable practices,” adds Fairbank.

Atrium Health Lincoln

Setting new efficiency standards across a hospital network

In 2014, Atrium Health launched an energy capital improvement project across many of its facilities that called for BAS retrocommissioning, operating room (OR) airflow setbacks, replacing outdated pneumatic HVAC controls with direct digital controls, using energy-efficient control sequences and optimizing the chilled water system.

Atrium Health Lincoln in Lincolnton, N.C., was the first site in the 40-hospital Atrium network where this project was implemented, with nearly every part of the hospital’s heating, cooling and ventilation systems benefiting, including zones with specialized pressure control, such as all the ORs and sterile suites. The results were impressive, setting a benchmark of energy efficiency for Atrium’s entire system.

“Sustainability efforts started with reducing energy to lower the cost of health care and reduce energy waste. This expense avoidance can be used to lower the expense budget or free up funds for new diagnostic equipment, furthering excellence in health care,” says Michael D. Roberts, PE, CHFM, SASHE, SrHE, Atrium Health’s director of energy services, facilities management and plant operations.

Annual energy costs at the facility prior to the enhancements were estimated at $579,000; since completion, energy consumption has been reduced by more than 30% and approximately $101,000. Atrium Health Lincoln has impressively earned ENERGY STAR certification seven years in a row and was named an Arbor Day Foundation TreeCampus Healthcare Facility three years in a row.

“Sustainability and energy efficiency take time and effort. Stay vigilant, keep the message consistent, and little by little, you will get buy-in,” recommends Roberts.

Atrium Health Mercy

Showcasing serious energy savings in Charlotte

Over the past 10 years, Atrium Health has been busy modernizing many of its hospitals across North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia and Alabama with major energy efficiency and sustainability betterments.

One facility that has particularly gained from these improvements is Atrium Health Mercy in Charlotte, N.C., where — as at other Atrium sites — state-of-the-art direct digital controls employing energy-efficient control sequences have replaced outdated pneumatic HVAC controls, the BAS was retrocommissioned, the chilled water system was optimized, and OR airflow setbacks were installed. This challenging undertaking affected all aspects of the hospital’s HVAC systems, including areas with special pressure control like ORs and sterile suites. Months of planning and detailed, quick execution were required to ensure proper airflow and pressurization, minimizing surgery schedule downtime.

“Atrium Health Mercy has been our system’s designated hospital for comprehensive green benchmarking for several consecutive years,” says Atrium Health’s Michael D. Roberts. “Completion of this project helped us identify areas of opportunity for greater efficiencies and showed that this hospital can serve as a facility model for developing systemwide targets toward carbon neutrality goals.”

Since the upgrades, Atrium Health Mercy has reduced annual energy consumption by 25% and costs by approximately $284,000. It has also earned ENERGY STAR certification over the past six years and was named an Arbor Day Foundation TreeCampus Healthcare Facility.

Atrium Health Pineville

Lower energy bills despite a larger footprint

A more recent beneficiary of its parent organization’s extensive systemwide capital improvements initiative, the 307-bed Atrium Health Pineville in Charlotte, N.C., stands as an exemplary, transformed facility designed to inspire other hospitals yearning to go green. Among the advancements implemented, the chilled water system was updated, retrocommissioning of the BAS was completed, airflow setbacks were placed in ORs, and outmoded pneumatic HVAC controls were substituted with more energy-efficient direct digital controls.

The execution of these efforts, however, was more challenging than it sounds. The operating suite required precise pressurization settings, and managing all modes of airflow adjustments demanded meticulous commissioning. This involved months of careful preparation and detailed implementation, carried out in short intervals to ensure proper airflow and pressurization.

“Atrium Health Pineville has now lowered its energy use intensity by more than 56%. Even with a bigger footprint requiring more energy and rising energy costs, the annual energy budget is 12% lower than the baseline year of 2012, when $2 million in annual energy costs were spent,” notes Atrium Health’s Michael D. Roberts. “This work has reduced annual energy costs by approximately $245,500, even though the hospital is now 50% larger.”

The facility has been ENERGY STAR-certified for seven years running. But it’s the Sustainability Champion Award that Roberts is particularly proud of. “This award is very gratifying as it formally recognizes our teammates for all the great work they are doing,” he explains.

Atrium Health Union

Green Team follows dream theme of sustainability

Yet another major Atrium Health facility has reaped the rewards of retrocommissioning its BAS, swapping out its HVAC controls for direct digital controls and undertaking other energy-saving measures. Thanks to these and other improvements — including revamping the chilled water system and setting back OR airflows — Monroe, N.C.-based Atrium Health Union can boast serious annual energy savings. In fact, its energy bills are now 40% lower than the $1.5 million spent yearly back in 2012.

“At the time these improvements began in 2014, very few hospitals were setting back OR airflows during unoccupied times, making this project innovative and ahead of the curve,” says Atrium Health’s Michael D. Roberts, adding that Atrium Health Union has for four consecutive years earned ENERGY STAR certification. “It’s impressive that these setbacks have remained in place since 2015 and are still in use.”

The sustainability efforts at the facility are made possible through the dedication of its green team, Roberts says.

“Established in 2021, these green champions raise awareness of Atrium Health’s sustainability vision and goals and educate teammates at the facility on how to make a difference for the environment,” he says. “For example, Atrium Health Union reinstituted paper and plastic bottle recycling on campus, and green team members continue to share Atrium Health sustainability initiatives and drive a culture of sustainability throughout the facility.”

Aurora Lakeland Medical Center

Saving enough energy to power 101 homes

Aurora Lakeland Medical Center in Elkhorn, Wis., did more than up its sustainability game over the past three years. Its comprehensive operations improvement approach saved enough energy to power 101 homes in its home county for a year.

Since 2021 and the initiation of its commissioning process, facilities operations staff have diligently worked to optimize building system equipment, discharged air temperature and static pressure sequences and unoccupied area controls. These efforts weren’t easy, considering that many of the campus’ structures and building systems are 86 years old.

Since 2022, site energy intensity dropped by more than 8%, site utility costs decreased by nearly 5%, and GHG intensity was lowered by 6.5%.

“Having a dedicated and accountable team engaged in a continuous process improvement concerning building metrics garnered the results here. The facilities operations leaders and team rallied behind moving the needle on the building performance at Aurora Lakeland Medical Center,” says Jedd Winkler, energy program manager for parent organization Aurora Health Care, who notes that Aurora Lakeland Medical Center is ENERGY STAR certified, with a score of 87.

“We measure site performance using daily and monthly temperature-normalized benchmarking of each utility commodity, resetting models annually to maintain operational gains. Results from these benchmarks influence merit considerations and set baseline goals for the following year,” Winkler says. “On-site team members continuously monitor energy data, document anomalies and track energy usage. This continuous monitoring helps identify irregularities for corrective action, verify proper operation of equipment and scheduling changes, and measure the impact of energy conservation measures.”

Aurora Medical Center – Oshkosh

Improving efficiency with multi-pronged effort

Eager to make both an environmental and financial difference, Aurora Medical Center – Oshkosh (Wis.) had many green items on its checklist. Impressively, it ticked off every box, helping it capture a Sustainability Champion Award.

The health care facility had its boiler stacks rerouted for better performance from the thermal plant and expanded its rooftop solar array to two roof sections. It recovered waste condensate from rooftop cooling coils and piping to its cooling tower and installed roof screen and roof-mounted photovoltaic array solar panels. It additionally replaced or upgraded brushless direct current motors on circulating and hot water pumps. A green space “food forest” was created to grow fresh fruits and vegetables for team members and the community. It achieved passive heat recovery on duct runs between cooler ORs and warmer waiting rooms. And it programmed the BAS for optimal performance.

These endeavors have reduced energy and GHG intensity at the hospital by nearly half to levels below 150 thousand British thermal units per square foot. It’s an achievement equivalent to removing nearly half of a hospital with the same footprint from the grid. What’s more, site energy intensity has been reduced by more than 6%, and GHG intensity is lower by 5%.

“The facilities operations team at Aurora Medical Center – Oshkosh used their own staff to both innovate and install energy- and water-saving initiatives,” says Aurora Health Care’s Jedd Winkler, who adds that other health care sector honors earned by the ENERGY STAR-certified hospital include a 2023 Sustainability Champion Award and three different Practice Greenhealth awards. “Active leaders and the site facilities operations team have [introduced] new ideas and seen them through from concept to in-service.”

Aurora Medical Center – Grafton

Enhancing building performance reaps benefits

In recent years, there’s been much afoot to help reduce the carbon footprint at this 132-bed hospital in Grafton, Wis. For starters, its facilities operations team engaged in commissioning to improve the pressurization of the building and tempering of outside air. Next, the site began actively optimizing the operation of heat pump chillers as part of its cooling plant strategy.

Aurora Medical Center – Grafton eventually installed occupancy sensors in multiple locations with high air changes, which enable airflow adjustment in those served spaces based on occupancy. The facility also piped recovered condensate water back to the cooling towers to offset the makeup water required by the system. And facilities operations staff recently identified underutilized property for siting and development of a 1-megawatt ground mount array, which began construction this spring.

The hard work has reaped numerous dividends. Consider that site energy intensity has dropped by 4% over the past two years. Plus, the hospital earned ENERGY STAR certification and garnered several other accolades, such as a 2023 ASHE Energy to Care Sustained Performance Award, Practice Greenhealth’s Emerald Award and Practice Greenhealth’s Greening the OR Award.

“It’s impressive how the Aurora Medical Center – Grafton facilities operations team has improved its building performance despite ongoing construction at the facility, the addition of new imaging equipment and increasing patient traffic as the local area population continues to grow,” says Aurora Health Care’s Jedd Winkler. “It demonstrates how empowering staff to come up with solutions and bring ideas to the table can be a multiplier for results and achievements.”

Aurora Medical Center – Burlington

Older facility becomes symbol of green progress

Ample energy conservation endeavors are evident at this Burlington, Wis.-based hospital, which engaged in commissioning in 2020 to optimize building systems, some of which date back to 1929. Taking a system-by-system approach and working with a commissioning agent to identify large and small items for operational improvement netted Aurora Medical Center – Burlington big gains.

Among the larger improvements, the cooling plant was updated with a new chiller, and a dedicated chiller for the OR suite was optimized to better transition between air-side economizing and initiating based on zone loads to reduce cycling. Thermostats were reprogrammed, and the discharge air temperature tempering strategy was revised to include the outside air dewpoint to meet the relative humidity requirements of the space — a strategy that minimized the amount of reheating needed for the area.

“Many small facility improvement measures were implemented that collectively improved the building performance. Items like programming thermostats to return to their nominal setting every night may sound insignificant, but they help normalize the ventilation system,” says Aurora Health Care’s Jedd Winkler.

In the first year after implementation, electrical usage at Aurora Medical Center – Burlington dropped by 800,000 kilowatt-hours (kWh) (15%), and the site therm consumption was reduced by 11,000 therms (5%). The hospital is now ENERGY STAR-certified, with a current score of 84.

Other prizes collected by the facility in the past year include a 2023 ASHE Energy to Care Sustained Performance Award, a Practice Greenhealth Emerald Award and a Practice Greenhealth Greening the OR Award.

Aurora Medical Center – Manitowoc County

Leading the way with renewable accomplishments

This 69-bed acute care hospital had two acute objectives: green up the facility beyond expectations and up its ENERGY STAR score. It achieved both goals thanks to concerted efforts by its facilities operations staff.

Aurora Medical Center – Manitowoc County in Two Rivers, Wis., has been harnessing the power of renewable energy since 2017, when the facility installed solar panels on its lower roof. The hospital partnered with local utility companies to install a solar array, which generates 70,000 kWh and offsets costs that can be redirected to patient care. That saved energy significantly reduces GHG emissions.

Additionally, in the past year, the medical center implemented a user interface on multiple patient wings for clinical staff to adjust the zone conditions to correlate with occupancy. In time for Earth Day 2024, it completed the retirement of renewable energy credits for calendar year 2023, which is 100% offset with green energy, equivalent to 1,384 tons of carbon dioxide.

Aurora Medical Center skyrocketed past the Sustainability Champion goal of an ENERGY STAR score of 75 with scores of 93, 92 and 94 from 2020 to 2022. Over the past two years, site energy intensity has decreased by nearly 5%, site utility costs have lowered by almost 4%, and GHG intensity dipped by 1%.

“Aurora Medical Center – Manitowoc County has been a bellwether and blazed a trail through innovation and leadership by applying sustainability and renewable energy,” says Aurora Health Care’s Jedd Winkler.

Aurora Medical Center – Summit

Reaching peak performance in Summit

Aurora Medical Center – Summit (Wis.), which is now ENERGY STAR certified, boasts among the highest ENERGY STAR scores (92) of Aurora Health’s 26 acute care hospitals. That’s due to several green upgrades employed at the 844,609-square-foot facility that have made a big difference in the hospital’s bottom line.

Cases in point: The medical center’s facilities operations team converted to modern high turndown burners on their boilers in the thermal plant and installed stack economizers on the boilers to recover waste heat from the boiler stack and preheat makeup water. These and other undertakings have helped decrease site energy intensity by more than 8%, lower site utility costs by more than 2% and drop GHG intensity by 4.5%.

“HVAC technicians, BAS technicians, stationary engineers, maintenance mechanics and electricians work daily to keep the Summit site running safely and efficiently,” notes Aurora Health Care’s Jedd Winkler. “They share information regularly to ensure building systems perform well.”

The hospital has also garnered other health care sector laurels besides this year’s Sustainability Champion Award, including a 2023 ASHE Energy to Care Sustained Performance Award and Practice Greenhealth’s Emerald Award.

“Robust processes for energy, water and GHG management are in place to capture more power savings and reduce waste at this 117-bed hospital,” Winkler says. “What’s particularly impressive is that the operations staff at Aurora Medical Center – Summit has maintained high building performance despite several leadership transitions in recent years.”

Aurora Sinai Medical Center

Cool-down actions heat up sustainability excitement

There’s a lot of heat on a facilities operations team when they’re operating a 386-bed, 958,000-square-foot hospital in Milwaukee. Fortunately, Aurora Sinai Medical Center now has a dedicated chiller for higher cooling load zones. This installation saves energy by allowing the main chilled water plant to operate at a higher chilled water temperature while balancing the distribution.

That’s just one of the many sustainability upgrades implemented at the hospital recently. Cooling towers were replaced and upgraded as well, and the condenser piping arrangement was updated in tandem to allow for plenum dispatch of cooling towers rather than a one-to-one dispatch to a single chiller. The site also upgraded its damper system to a low leak design on AHUs, enabling more precision control of outdoor air requirements and lessening the amount of outdoor air that needs to be tempered. These improvements allow facilities operations staff to better schedule zones based on occupancy.

Proof of progress at this ENERGY STAR-certified hospital is found in the numbers: Site energy intensity and GHG intensity each plummeted by more than 9% since these actions, and site utility costs are lower by nearly 6%.

“The Aurora Sinai facilities staff consistently challenge themselves to achieve higher performance. Consider that the hospital currently has an ENERGY STAR score of 99, yet there are still fruitful improvement measures to be implemented,” says Aurora Health Care’s Jedd Winkler. “These accomplishments demonstrate that vigilance in reviewing performance information garners even further improvements.”

Aurora St. Luke’s South Shore

Cooling and heating upgrades produce stellar scores

Want to heat up your energy conservation efforts? Chill out, as Aurora St. Luke’s South Shore Medical Center in Cudahy, Wis., did by upgrading its chilled thermal water plant. The 275-bed site is also the proud recipient of a new boiler to more efficiently produce steam and can now boast of greater variable air volume in the surgery suites based on schedule and occupancy.

“Equipment replacement at Aurora St. Luke’s South Shore Medical Center had to be coordinated carefully within a legacy design and footprint, with the cooling plant and thermal plant in close proximity,” says Aurora Health Care’s Jedd Winkler. “This project produced quick results for the hospital, which has observed a reduction in site energy intensity and GHG intensity by more than 9% and 6.8%, respectively.”

Winkler points out that the ENERGY STAR-certified medical center has earned an envious ENERGY STAR score of 93 and also garnered a 2023 ASHE Energy to Care Sustained Performance Award and Practice Greenhealth’s Emerald Award.

“Our advice to other hospitals is to maintain a capital improvement plan for any equipment that is nearing its ASHRAE lifespan,” he adds. “This is an opportunity to implement greater efficiency equipment rather than like-for-like replacements.”

Aurora St. Luke’s Medical Center

Big progress underway at ‘Brew City’ hospital

When you’re Milwaukee’s largest hospital — at 938 beds and 1.7 million square feet — you naturally think big when it comes to improvement projects, especially in the sustainability category.

Recent initiatives by Aurora St. Luke’s Medical Center’s facilities operations team include installing digital stats over pneumatic hardware to have more zone information and adjust supply air temperature and pressure appropriately. The site also operates a green terrace healing garden on the eighth floor for its patients and staff to enjoy and is preparing to upgrade its main chiller plant to reduce cooling costs in a meaningful way.

Proof of progress is found when you drill down into the data: The hospital tallies a 90 ENERGY STAR score, GHG intensity has fallen by 2.5%, and site energy intensity dipped by more than 3.5% at the facility since project completion. St. Luke’s also earned Practice Greenhealth’s Emerald Award along the journey.

“The Aurora St. Luke’s Medical Center facilities operations staff has been very successful despite the high profile and high patient load that comes with being the anchor hospital in the entire state of Wisconsin,” explains Aurora Health Care’s Jedd Winkler. “Facility improvement measures have been cumulative, but even small improvements are impactful in aggregate.”

Pali Momi Medical Center

Scoring high thanks to major improvements

Sustainability upgrades began nearly 10 years ago at this state-of-the-art 118-bed hospital located in West Oahu, Hawaii, and haven’t let up since. Among the multiple projects undertaken were the installation of more efficient ballasts and lamps in lighting fixtures, replacing all fluorescent lights with LEDs, swapping out all original AHUs with new energy-efficient fan-wall units, substituting an old chiller with a new magnetic-bearing chiller, implementing an energy-efficient transformer and preparing for new rooftop solar panels. The site is also readying for a phased conversion of its dated pneumatic variable air volume boxes to direct digital control.

These and other efforts have translated into major savings: Electricity use has decreased by 7.3% over the past year at Pali Momi Medical Center, which currently has a nearly perfect ENERGY STAR score of 97.

“Managing risks associated with changes in an active hospital environment is always a challenge,” says Jessica Onaga, CHFM, CHC, CHSP, the hospital’s facilities director. “Reflecting on what we’ve been able to accomplish over the last decade, what impresses me the most is how our internal and external stakeholders were able to come together to ensure smooth planning and execution. As a result, Pali Momi is among the most efficient facilities, let alone medical centers, in the state.”

Onaga’s advice for other hospitals? “Don’t always focus on the big projects,” she says. “Minor changes can be very effective. The cumulative effect of multiple small projects can achieve big results.”

Parkland Health – Main Campus

Shining bright as the biggest ENERGY STAR hospital

An 882-bed, 3.3 million-square-foot facility requires a lot more juice than you’d think. Fortunately, Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas has been able to significantly lower its energy consumption in recent years thanks to substantial operational improvements.

In 2021, an in-house energy manager was hired to enhance the facility’s energy performance and sustainability efforts. This point person helped create an energy management framework and implemented initiatives that optimized boiler and chiller settings, improved temperature setpoints, upgraded key systems and generated renewable energy opportunities. The hospital recently approved a sustainability strategic plan that has significantly decreased GHG emissions in electricity and anesthesia gas and substantially minimized waste — increasing waste diversion by 166 tons (332,000 pounds) from 2022 to 2023.

Last year, Parkland Health — which currently maintains an ENERGY STAR score of 90 — became the largest ENERGY STAR-certified health care campus in the country. Further, more than 30% of the hospital’s electricity was purchased from renewable sources in 2023. In addition to earning Sustainability Champion honors, Parkland Health has been bestowed a Texas Commission on Environmental Quality Environmental Excellence Award, Practice Greenhealth’s Partner for Change Award and the Texas Association of Healthcare Facilities Management Energy Roundup Award.

“Parkland’s ongoing commitment to sustainability opens the possibility of pursuing more in-depth and community-based sustainability efforts. We continue to add new sustainability programs each year to decrease our environmental impact,” says Miranda Jolliff, LEED green associate and director of sustainability and energy conservation for facilities support services. “I would advise other facilities to implement a similar program to save money and prepare for the future.”

UPMC Northwest

Improved energy numbers prove that efforts pay off

The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) Northwest in Seneca, Pa., made some major energy management changes in the past few years that are causing the field to look more closely at this model facility.

The ambitious sustainability plan, first developed in 2017, called for low-cost retrocommissioning and deep retrofit energy management efforts that were initiated in 2018 with Envinity, a sustainability-focused commissioning and engineering firm.

Capital projects completed in 2020 to 2021 included retrocommissioning of AHUs; rebalancing of pneumatic variable air volume; replacement of a targeted 25% variable air volume with direct digital controls, including unoccupied setbacks; chiller plant optimization; implementation of pump variable frequency drives; corridor and exterior LED upgrades; and a kitchen hood demand-controlled ventilation installation. An existing geothermal rooftop unit serving a long-term care wing was also recommissioned, and airflows were reengineered to correct a load imbalance that had caused wellfield temperatures to rise.

“This project provided exceptional payback to UPMC and additional facility improvements through a holistic approach and committed project team,” says Russell Carlson, director of facilities and environmental services and emergency management coordinator for UPMC Northwest.

The hospital has achieved an annual reduction of 770 metric tons of carbon dioxide, while its ENERGY STAR score improved from 59 to 83. Facility electric consumption was reduced by 15% and gas by 11%, with a total annual energy cost savings of $230,000 per year. The program had a simple payback of less than four years, which funded the upgrade of 25% of the facility to digital controls, improving patient comfort and operations oversight.