SFHMC

SFHMC
114 Woodland St.
Hartford, CT 06105

Since its founding in 1897, Saint Francis Hospital and Medical Center has grown to 17 buildings totalling 2,018,408 sq.ft.

Our commitment to energy efficiency is institution wide. All energy management issues are addressed and reviewed by our hospital's President, Executive Vice President, and Buildings and Grounds Committee.

Our Energy Team consists of an energy manager, the directors of engineering from both our campuses, the director for clinical engineering, and the mechanical and electrical foremen. The team follows our hospital's comprehensive Master Plan for Energy Management, which was developed in 1995 and is updated every two years. All new construction and renovations performed since the development of the Master Plan have incorporated energy-efficient system designs. Our renovations to date include:

• Installed energy efficient systems in the Patient Care Tower, the Saint Francis/Mount Sinai Regional Cancer Center, Rehabilitation Hospital of Connecticut, and the Burgdorf/Fleet Health Center, the cost for which was partially offset by energy grants from Connecticut Light and power.
• Lighting audits for our campuses were conducted and over 12,000 fixtures were upgraded by retrofitting or replacing older fixtures with new, efficient electronic ballasts and T8 and T10 bulbs.
• All fans in our major buildings were outfitted with variable frequency drives (VFDs). We also use VFDs for our major cold water, hot water, and chilled water pumping systems.
• Six old, inefficient chillers were replaced with new, highly efficient centrifugal or absorption units. The project cost approximately $1.5 million and will save approximately $150,000 each year.
• All old steam traps and motors were replaced with new impulse traps and high efficiency motors.

In addition, we recently installed a 200kw fuel cell that was funded through a $1.5 million grant from the Connecticut Clean Energy Fund. The fuel cell supplies critical electricity to select areas of the operating room and heat recovery to our boiler system. Approximately $35,000 will be saved each year due to this installation. We are contemplating a shift of load to off hours to best utilize off peak energy.

We use two methods to track our energy - ENERGY STAR's Portfolio Manager verifies our energy-efficient operation and our in-house energy management system tracks all fuel, electricity, and process gas usage by month, by building, and by utility. Our energy management system also compares statistics on a month-to-month and year-to-date basis.

Communications:
The status and successes of our energy projects are communicated to the community, our employees, and other facility management professionals through various internal and external publications. We are also in the process of adding energy information to our Web site.

Testimonial:
"The ENERGY STAR label is further proof of Saint Francis Hospital and Medical Centera's commitment to high-quality management practices and is consistent with our designation as a Top 100 Hospital in the country by Solucient."

- Robert Falaguerra, Vice President, Facilities Support Services and Construction