Healthcare Energy Leaders Canada (HELC)

Developed by the Canadian Coalition for Green Health Care, together with the Ontario Chapter of the Canadian Healthcare Engineering Society, HELC was designed from the inside out by a team intimate with the daily challenges and opportunities faced each day within a health care setting.

What does all this mean for Canadian health care organisations and those involved in energy and facility management? An initiative developed from the inside out by a team intimate with the challenges and opportunities faced each day in a health care setting.

Our HELC Team can provide assistance with consumption audits, identification of energy efficiency opportunities, preparation of business case content to help get senior management's buy in for project formulation and execution, and guidance in completing saveONenergy program documents for potential funding assistance.

Building Upon Successes

In our first 12 months, HELO not only met, but exceeded, the demand and energy savings targets it set out to achieve.

Completed projects have already saved 1.1 MW of electricity demand and 4.6 GWh of energy, while projects in the design and construction stages will save an additional 4.9 MW and 41.7 GWh of energy.

If fully implemented, projects would save the Ontario health care sector $15 M annually in utility costs, and gain an additional $22 M in incentives. GHG would be reduced by 8,567 tons C02e.

Successes to date:

• Submission of 45 saveONenergy applications with demand savings of 3.5 MW and 21.4 GWH energy savings
• Application types go beyond ERII and included many custom, DES, PSUI, and high performance new construction
• Engagement of the health care sector through workshops, webinars, newsletters and conferences and media promotional materials
• Development of CDM plan template to help hospitals comply with Ontario’s Green Energy Act
• The growth in senior leader recognition of the potential of this program
• Identified an internal source of funding - the Health Infrastructure Renewal Fund (HIRF) funding from the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care - which can be used to leverage the purchase of energy-saving equipment
• Identified significant interest in Combined Heat and Power (CHP) to help facilities become more resilient and stay open during weather-related disasters
• Engaged with 29 LDCs and over 50 hospitals in the identification of energy-saving projects
• Engaged with LTC sector
• HELO team developed template RFPs for lighting, CHP and ESCO projects. It was the first time we had ESCO agreement on an RFP template, and the first time ESCOs responded to an RFP to service a group of smaller hospitals
• Successfully engaged smaller and medium-sized facilities in the north through a regular conference call networking initiative known as HELO North
• Included gas utility and water incentives to leverage energy savings for electricity using equipment when appropriate

HELC was an energy management initiative developed from the inside out by a team intimate with the challenges and opportunities faced each day in a health care setting. The team was successful in helping Canada’s health care organisations identify potential energy cost savings of over $16 M annually.

Originally funded under the Ontario Power Authority's (OPA) Energy Efficiency Service Providers (EESPs) initiative, HELC became part of a province-wide capability-building initiative to provide resources directly to customers through sector-based organisations. HELC helps facility managers with project development and help to access incentive programs and funding sources such as the Ontario Power Authority's saveONenergy initiative.

Sites we able to engage our affordable team of Energy Managers at HealthCare Energy Leaders Canada to:

• Reduce operating costs
• Improve operational efficiencies
• Assistance in applying to your local electric utility for incentives
• Realize opportunities for capital renewal
• Enhance overall environment of care

Resulting benefits to the facility included:

• Energy Audits
• Incentive Applications
• Energy Data Analysis
• Business Case Development and/or Analysis
• Tracking, reporting and evaluating site-specific projects
• Assistance with service provider procurement and technical specification of equipment
• Delivery of building occupant-, operator-, and or management-focused training.

HELC was open to:

• Hospitals
• Private-sector and non-municipal senior and long-term care facilities
• Community health centres
• And other health care facilities managers

Combined Heat and Power Presentation

• Combined Heat and Power: Revisiting the Business Case and Reliability Benefits for Ontario's Hospitals

Tech Briefs - These informative primers from HELO provide critical information on how to make your systems more efficient:

• Combined Heat and Power (CHP)
• Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning (HVAC)
• Energy Performance Contract (EPC)

Energy Innovators Initiative Fact Sheets - Originally developed for the Energy Innovators Initiative, these fact sheets cover a wide range of technical information relevant to facility equipment and operations:

• Choosing a High Efficiency Chiller System
• Reducing Water Use Closed-Loop Compressor Cooling System
• DDC Control Strategies for Energy Efficiency
• Installing High-Efficiency Boilers for Heating Plants
• Heat Recovery from Kitchen Refrigeration
• Lighting Control
• Heat Recovery with Boiler Stack Economizers
• Fluorescent Lampand Ballast Options
• Use of Automatic Vent Dampers for Boilers and Furnaces
• Use of Variable Frequency Drives for Fan and Pump Control
• Recommissioning