Cooling systems represent a major operating cost for most hospitals. Not to mention, patients’ health and safety depends on the peak performance of HVAC systems. It’s important to have an HVAC system that consistently meets the health standards you require, but it’s also important to reduce operating expenses as much as possible.
So how can you find energy efficiency and cost savings through HVAC systems, without lengthy downtime that can put patients at risk?
Reducing Supplemental Loads in Hospital HVAC
Cooling a hospital is much more expensive than heating one. This is because all the machines, people and lighting do much of the work of heating a hospital. Cooling systems must fight against these sources of heat to lower temperatures.
The first step in finding energy efficiency and cost savings is to reduce these supplemental loads that make cooling more difficult. Use high efficiency lighting, improve the building’s insulation and try to limit equipment power consumption as much as possible.
Limiting supplemental loads will provide modest but immediate cost savings through reduced energy consumption. After you have eliminated these cooling barriers, you’ll better understand how much cooling capacity you actually need.
Hospital HVAC Cooling Maintenance Boosts the Bottom Line
Preventative maintenance of hospital HVAC cooling systems is the only way to find true energy efficiency and cost savings on an ongoing basis. Proper maintenance keeps HVAC systems running at peak performance, which directly translates to lower energy consumption and improved efficiency.
HVAC maintenance also helps hospitals avoid expensive HVAC downtime. When problems are fixed before they occur, hospitals can continue to operate as usual, avoiding expensive repairs and disruptions to daily activities.
But most importantly, HVAC maintenance helps maintain high levels of indoor air quality (IAQ). This is important to patients’ health, because they’re more vulnerable to contracting some form of airborne illness. In most cases, hospitals are liable for any illness contracted while a patient was under their care.
Essentially, preventative maintenance of hospital HVAC cooling systems helps create a healthy environment for patients and contributes to significant efficiency and cost savings for facility managers.
Cooling is one of the most expensive operating costs for hospitals. There are many barriers to achieving highly efficient HVAC cooling systems, but with the right HVAC maintenance plan, hospitals can achieve safety and cost savings at the same time.
To learn more, continue reading about HVAC for hospitals
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