Kingston General Hospital has entered into a $10.5-million facility upgrade and conservation program with Honeywell to reduce energy costs and its impact on the environment. The program, which combines innovative roof-mounted solar panels with traditional energy-efficiency upgrades, will save the hospital about $760,000 in utility costs per year. These savings are guaranteed by Honeywell through a 15-year contract. KGH will also use $118,000 in energy retrofit incentives from Utilities Kingston to fund the project.
The program will eliminate approximately 2,200 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year, equivalent to removing nearly 740 cars from the road according to figures from Environment Canada. In addition, KGH will conserve nearly 72,000 cubic meters of water annually, the same as filling 29 Olympic-sized swimming pools.
“The infrastructure renewal program with Honeywell will significantly reduce our annual utility costs, allowing us to refocus these dollars on delivering complex acute and specialty care to the patients in our region,” said Jim Flett, Chief Operating Officer. The program will impact more than one million square feet of space across 27 buildings on the hospital campus.
One of the focal points of the project is the use of solar panels mounted on the roof of the Kidd wing that will reduce the hospital’s carbon footprint while providing electricity from a renewable source. The system is expected to generate 95 kilowatts of electricity, enough energy to power 30 homes annually. This will also create nearly $75,000 in annual revenue for the hospital under the Ontario Power Authority’s Feed-in-Tariff (FIT) program.
Additional conservation measures include:
- Installing a new high-efficiency hot water condensing boiler plant in the Connell wing.
- Replacing six obsolete ventilation systems in Connell wing that serve the operating rooms and other patient areas.
- Replacing more than 250 windows in the Watkins building, a historical building constructed in 1835.
- Replacing 10 oil-fired boilers with higher-efficiency, gas-fired boilers (in facilities along Barrie and Stuart streets).
- Optimizing the cooling, heating and ventilation systems.
- Installing new and replacing damaged piping insulation.
- Upgrading mechanical systems and installing high-efficiency motors.
- Updating lighting fixtures to more energy-efficient ballasts and lamps.
- Installing low-flow toilets, sinks and other water fixtures.
- Making improvements to the building’s exterior including sealing windows and doors to reduce the loss of conditioned air.
Honeywell expects to complete all of the upgrades by 2012. Honeywell has helped more than 50 health-care facilities across Canada reduce energy use and carbon dioxide emissions including London Health Sciences Centre, Cambridge Memorial Hospital, Chatham-Kent Health Alliance, the Ottawa Hospital’s General Campus and Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre.