by Brianna Crandall — August 27, 2014—The American Society for Healthcare Engineering (ASHE) of the American Hospital Association (AHA) announced at its annual conference the official launch of Energy to Care, a recently expanded efficiency program that includes energy benchmarking tools and awards for health care facilities. Cutting energy consumption helps reduce operational costs, freeing hospital resources for patient care, notes ASHE.
The expanded Energy to Care program, formerly called the Energy Efficiency Commitment, allows health care facilities to benchmark their energy use by integrating with the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Portfolio Manager program.
A new Energy to Care dashboard, underwritten by Johnson Controls, allows facilities professionals to more easily visualize energy use, identify trends, and share information with hospital leaders. Users can compare energy use intensity, electricity, gas, and total energy for all buildings or specific types of buildings over any time scale. Users can also compare data to forecasted consumption, outdoor temperature, and heating and cooling degree days.
The Energy to Care program also features new awards for ASHE members. The previous program celebrated hospitals that reduced energy consumption by 10 percent over baseline. The revamped Energy to Care Awards continue to recognize hospitals and other health care facilities that hit that target, but also recognize facilities that have the lowest energy use intensity in their region or the nation. In addition, the Energy to Care program gives hospitals the ability to set up and participate in regional challenges that add a bit of friendly competition to the program.
