Energy Star’s Portfolio Manager, the online energy measurement and tracking tool offered by the EPA, features several updates designed to provide a clearer picture of hospital energy performance. The changes include:
- Data inputs for MRI machines and personnel
- Adjustments to weather normalization to reflect energy used to cool the building
- Removal of the 5 million-square-foot size limit, which allows larger hospitals to benchmark with Portfolio Manager
Using benchmarking tools and comparison with similar buildings not only improves the energy efficiency of individual hospitals, it can also contribute to large-scale environmental benefits. Improving hospitals’ energy efficiency by 10% would save 7.3 billion kWh of electricity per year, plus 240 million therms of natural gas, according to the EPA. This translates into an estimated $740 million drop in energy costs and prevention of greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to powering over 712,000 homes for a year.
