University Health Network
190 Elizabeth St.
Toronto, ON
M5G 2C4

Key Contact

Ed Rubinstein
Manager‐Department of
Energy and Environment

Project Background

University Healthcare Network is comprised of four well known Toronto hospitals: Toronto General, Toronto Western, Princess Margaret and Toronto Rehab. Located in Toronto these hospitals have achieved global recognition for their exemplary patient care, research and education.

“Greening health care is no small matter at University Health Network (UHN). Led by Ed Rubinstein of the Energy and Environment department, UHN has been breathing life into the UHN motto: Committed to Patient and Planet Centered Care. Since adopting an environmental management system in 2000, their environmental programs frequently break new ground, testing out ideas and innovations that are new to health care and beyond.”1

Managing energy usage in hospital buildings provides an amazing opportunity to help the environment, receive an economic benefit of decreased utility costs and most importantly offer a better social experience for patients. As patients, employees and visitors can attest, a pleasant hospital atmosphere increases patient health and well being.2

Challenges

With the aging of the Toronto General Hospital’s outdoor neon signage, the hospital sought to find a sustainable economic lighting solution. The appropriate system would need to provide the hospital with signage that represents the hospital’s image and remain maintenance free, to provide saving from costly and difficult bulb replacements.

Solution

UHN sought the Better Buildings Partnership’s help to receive the OPA sponsored incentive for changing their exterior lighting. Using innovative LED lighting UHN replaced their Neon Signage with an LED string, reducing consumption to 1/W a foot providing the hospital with three levels of results:

• Economic savings: Reduced energy usage by almost 90%
• Decreased environmental impact of almost 7.5 tonnes of
  carbon
• Social impact from increased buildings appeal, due to the
  new bright signage

The retrofits achieved an impressive 90% in energy savings providing UHN with a long term continued savings from their investments Using LEDs will also provide UHN with additional savings from maintenance costs thus increasing the payback for this project.

The BBP played a key role in helping us submit our OPA incentive application. Their assistance in collecting and submitting the necessary information ensured that our application was successful which, in turn, allowed us to put our incentive towards other energy efficiency initiatives. Ed Rubinstein, Manager‐Department of Energy and Environment: UHN

Project Snapshot

• Project cost:$22,000
• Annual electricity savings:44,000 kWh
• Annual cost savings:$4,400
• Payback: 4.5 years
• Annual CO2 savings: 7.5 tonnes
• BBP, Toronto Hydro, OPA sponsored financial incentives:$2,500

Project results have been verified by a third party project evaluator according to industry references and the International Performance Measurement and Verification Protocol (IPMVP).

About the City of Toronto

Toronto is Canada’s largest city and sixth largest government, and home to a diverse population of about 2.6 million people. It is the economic engine of Canada and one of the greenest and most creative cities in North America. Toronto has won numerous awards for quality, innovation and efficiency in delivering public services. Toronto’s government is dedicated to prosperity, opportunity and livability for all its residents.

For more information please contact:

Better Buildings Partnership
Tel: 416-392-1500
bbp@toronto.ca

Click here to download this case study in a PDF format

Sources

1. UHN : http://www.uhn.ca/about_uhn/greening_UHN/index.asp
2. Douglas, C, Douglas R. Patient‐friendly hospital environments: exploring the patients’ perspective , March 2004

October 11th & 12th at Evergreen Brick Works in Toronto

The 2012 Green Building Festival is a two-day event focused on evolving codes and standards. It is an outstanding opportunity to learn from sustainable building experts about the new Ontario Building Code and the move from prescriptive to performance-based standards.
Presentations will include:

• Keynote addresses by Jason F. McLennan, International Living Future Institute (Living Building Challenge) and Edward Mazria, Architecture 2030 (The Next Built Environment, Today)
• Special Guest Speakers Jennifer Keesmaat, Chief Planner at the City of Toronto, and Mario Cucinella, renowned Italian architect
• Informative plenary sessions
• Training workshops
• Interactive discussions
• Awards Reception

Capacity is limited so REGISTER NOW.

Blog address:  http://weblog.bbptoronto.ca/

Angelo Poto (right), Project Manager, City of Toronto’s Energy Efficiency Office presents a $198,979.44 incentive to Brad Achtenberg, Director of Engineering and Maintenance and Dr. Rueben Devlin, President and CEO of Humber River Regional Hospital. 

Congratulations to Humber River Regional Hospital (HRRH) for their leadership and commitment to energy efficiency and recognition as Toronto Hydro’s Customer for Conservation! With the help of financial incentives from the saveONenergy^OM RETROFIT PROGRAM, HRRH replaced their chiller system which resulted in 351,216 kWh of annual electricity savings. This is equivalent to saving approximately 1,106 trees! HRRH worked with the City of Toronto’s Better Building Partnership team to deliver the conservation project.

Attendees had the opportunity to learn about ways of funding their energy-efficiency projects (up to 50% of the project cost) and new technologies such as lighting and thermal storage.

Offered through Toronto Hydro, incentives are available for energy-efficiency lighting, shifting energy use, equipment upgrades, energy audits, new construction and major renovations. Start now and include these funding options into your energy management plan.

For a copy of the presentations please see the links below:

• George Canetti (Better Buildings Partnership, City of Toronto) – Programs Overview, Toronto Hydro & Better Buildings Partnership
• John Kuri (MCW Custom Energy Solutions Ltd) – Thermal Storage
• Ed Evans (Osram Sylvania Ltd) – LED products

The deadline is August 24, 2012. For program information, please see:

http://www.feddevontario.gc.ca/eic/site/723.nsf/eng/h_00826.html