The 24-hour operation of the hospitals results in huge power consumption through lighting, heating, air-conditioning, and electricity consumption. This consumption rate is higher than any other commercial buildings. Here are a few reasons why hospital buildings consume a lot of energy and simple ways to manage them -

• Large surfaces of the hospitals
  • Hospitals need rooms with a significant volume, long corridors, and there is a need for at least a satisfactory ventilation, which therefore, increases the energy consumption. In many cases, the continuous use of lighting in every room is not necessary. The system of controlling the switches of the lamp can be installed in these cases.
• Hot water usage in the hospital
  • The big size of the hospital building could lead to loss of heat through the pipeline. And in a hospital, the use of hot water is quite high. So, the water use, depending on the demand, could save electricity.
• Thermal comfort inside the hospital building
  • The use of the cooling system, use of the heating and the humidity system are necessary to obtain the desired thermal comfort inside the hospitals to ensure the improvement of the patient's health. It is one of the crucial factors behind large power consumption in the hospital.
• Sterilization in the hospital
  • The sterilization in the hospitals needs steam networks with long pipes. Sound insulation of the pipes can avoid heat losses.
• Medical equipment and energy-consuming machines in the hospital
  • The medical device used in hospitals contributes to high energy consumption, in addition to the cost of buying equipment. The price can be controlled by considering the life cycle cost analysis, energy efficiency and improvement of the power factor through the use of capacitor to avoid loss due to harmonic currents. The harmonics presence in the power system means that the current & voltage are distorted. And there is a deviation from the sinusoidal wave. The sinusoidal wave presence shows that the oscillation is smooth and repetitive.
• Lightening in the hospitals
  • Use of LEDs lights over fluorescent and incandescent lamps is one way to reduce energy consumption. Secondly, organizing the lightening as per the activity type. A high-performance lamp could be in usage for the place that has the demand for the 24 hours for all seven days. The use of sensors to limit the intensity and timing of the lightening should also be considered.
• Air-condition (AC) use in the hospital
  • Most of the hospitals use centralized AC system, which caters to the big volume of the room. Still, there are split AC which are generally installed in one place and can be turned ON-OFF depending on the use. Taking into consideration the economics, generally a combination of centralized and split AC is installed. But the improvement in the thermal insulation and adequate maintenance and replacement of the old system can reduce the need for the cooling.

Conclusion

Overall, the energy consumption in a hospital from the heating, ventilation, and air conditioning is 50%, medical equipment & others is 33% and lightening makes for 17%of the power consumption. We at Minionlabs can help hospitals reduce electricity costs, and improve productivity by providing real-time device-level electricity consumption using a smart energy device delivered through the analytical platform. We have so far saved 10-30% of the client's businesses earning's annually that comprised of Fortis Hospital, Palm Beach Hotel, to name a few.