| Due to the continuous operation of HVAC systems and stringent requirements of indoor environmental conditions, the total energy use per floor area in healthcare facilities is second only to that in food service buildings, and significantly higher than that in any other commercial building types. In order to evaluate potential opportunities for saving energy in healthcare facilities, a model of a hospital located in south Louisiana was developed in EnergyPlus simulation software. Building information required for the model development was taken from the hospital architectural and mechanical plans. Two field surveys were also conducted to identify the operating characteristics of electrical equipment and gas equipment. The annual electricity and natural gas consumption estimated by the developed model was compared with utility data for model validation. Five energy efficient measures were evaluated using the developed models, namely reducing LPD, installing high efficiency windows, the combination method of reducing LPD and window changing approaches, installing a separate chiller for OR, and another combination of LPD reduction and chiller separation. Simulation results showed 12% annual energy savings by reducing LPD from 2.5 to 0.86 W/ft2 while only 1% savings resulted from using high-efficiency windows. The combination of LPD reduction and window changing could reduce the annual energy consumption by 13%. Building energy usage has been decreased by 8% after separating the OR chiller and 18% by the combination method of reducing LPD and separating chillers. |
