RETScreen® Clean Energy Management Software
The Canadian Coalition for Green Health Care is pleased to continue our collaboration with Natural Resources Canada to promote RETScreen® Clean Energy Management Software to Canada’s health services sector.
RETScreen® Version 8.1 just released
Version 8.1 of the RETScreen Clean Energy Management Software platform is now available for download from the RETScreen website. This update has arrived with a number of salient new features to enhance the RETScreen experience!
New benchmark data and visualization tools for off-grid power systems and various modes of transportation (including on- and off-road vehicles, aircraft, marine craft and trains)
New archetypes for transportation, central-grid and off-grid power systems incorporating battery storage; archetypes for military and correctional facilities; update of the user-defined feasibility model and the global GHG emission factors database
New analytics capabilities to prepare non-routine adjustments (e.g. COVID-19); regression analysis using backcasting and chaining techniques; integration of high-resolution and real-time data (hourly or sub-hourly, interval data with direct connection to databases, like SQL), including data visualization and analytics tools such as weekly and daily times series, load duration curve and heat map graphs
New automated portfolio data update feature and new connectors for other data tools with RETScreen Connect; new offsite renewable energy purchase capabilities for portfolio-wide monitoring and tracking; various data analysis, visualization and comparison tool upgrades
- Integration and update of e-Learning videos
- Improvements to reporting and custom dashboard tools
- RETScreen now supports 37 languages including Mongolian
RETScreen Expert is a comprehensive Clean Energy Management Software platform which enables professionals and decision-makers to identify and assess the viability of potential energy efficiency, renewable energy and cogeneration projects; and to measure and verify the actual and ongoing energy performance of buildings, factories and power plants around the world.
The software is developed by the Government of Canada in collaboration with notable international partners and is used by over 750,000 people in every country and territory of the world. RETScreen is also used as a teaching and research tool by well-over 1,300 universities and colleges worldwide, and is frequently cited in academic literature.
This “Made-in-Canada” software is well suited to assisting Canada’s health care facility and energy managers to take a data-driven approach to managing the energy in their facilities.
From benchmarking, to consumption tracking, energy audits and more, RETScreen provides a solution for health care energy professionals to take control of their facility portfolio.
- RETScreen webinar – March 27, 2019
Learn how RETScreen Expert Energy Management Software can help health care energy managers quickly identify, assess and optimize the technical and financial viability of energy projects while assisting them to improve their climate change impact resilience. RETScreen helps in the measurement and verification of actual energy performance and will help uncover additional energy savings possibilities.
Presenters:
- JJ Knott, HealthCare Energy Leaders Canada – Canadian Coalition for Green Health Care
- Kevin Bourque, Senior Engineer, Innovation and Energy Technology Sector, Natural Resources Canada
- Stephen Dixon, Energy Consultant, Know Energy
To view the webinar, please click here.
- RETScreen Expert webinar – March 11, 2020
This RETScreen webinar focused on renewable energy technologies and how RETScreen Expert Energy Management Software can help health care energy managers quickly identify, assess and optimize the technical and financial viability of energy projects while assisting them to improve their climate change impact resilience.
Presenters:
- JJ Knott, HealthCare Energy Leaders Canada – Canadian Coalition for Green Health Care
- Stephen Dixon, Energy Consultant, Know Energy
- Dan Ritchie, Green Hospital Scorecard – Canadian Coalition for Green Health Care
To view the webinar, please click here.
St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton embraces RETScreen with calculated results – RETScreen Expert Energy Management software has proven to be exactly what the doctor ordered to substantiate the value energy management initiatives bring to St. Joe’s bottom line. click here to view the case study!
St. Joseph’s Healthcare Hamilton adopte RETScreen avec des résultats calculés – le logiciel de gestion de l’énergie de RETScreen Expert s’est avéré être exactement ce que le médecin a ordonné pour justifier la valeur des initiatives de gestion de l’énergie pour Saint-Joe’s. Cliquez ici pour lire l’étude de cas
RETScreen Expert has analysis capabilities covering an entire project life cycle.
- Benchmark Analysis allows users to establish reference climate conditions at a facility site for any location on earth and compare the energy performance of various types of reference (benchmark) facilities with the estimated (modelled) or measured (actual) annual energy consumption of a facility. Energy benchmarking allows designers, facility operators, managers and senior decision-makers to quickly gauge a facility’s energy performance, i.e., expected energy consumption or production versus reference facilities, as well as scope for improvements.
- Feasibility Analysis permits decision-makers to conduct a five-step standard analysis, including energy analysis, cost analysis, emission analysis, financial analysis, and sensitivity/risk analysis. Fully integrated into this five-step analysis are benchmark, product, project, hydrology and climate databases, as well as links to worldwide energy resource maps. Also built-in is an extensive database of generic clean energy project templates as well as specific case studies. Performance Analysis allows a user to monitor, analyze, and report key energy performance data to facility operators, managers and senior decision-makers, including a facility’s actual energy performance versus predicted performance. The Performance Analysis module integrates near real-time satellite-derived weather data from NASA for the entire surface of the planet.
- Portfolio Analysis allows a user to manage energy across a large number of facilities, spanning multiple energy efficiency measures in a multi-facility portfolio comprising thousands of buildings and power plants in multiple locations. A user can also create a new portfolio or open an existing file. The “My portfolio” database file is made up of individual facilities analyzed with RETScreen. Additional facilities can easily be added to the portfolio database. Sub-portfolios can be created to allow for comparison across different facility types and geographic regions, and a mapping tool helps the user visualize assets across the globe.
With a populated database, the user can enable a portfolio-wide analysis dashboard which can be configured to include the results of benchmark, feasibility and performance analysis for each individual facility in the portfolio. The dashboard allows the user to consolidate results to readily track energy consumption and/or production, as well as costs and greenhouse gas emissions, all of which can be sorted by facility type, fuel type, country, etc. These results can then be used to report key metrics to various stakeholders.
Inputs and Outputs
The RETScreen Expert workflow consists of a series of worksheets (tabs located at top of the software window) and accompanying databases. Generally, the user works from left to right, completing the Location worksheet first, followed by the Facility worksheet, etc. On each worksheet, it is recommended that the user follows the steps outlined in the ribbon near the top of the software window, completing each worksheet from top to bottom. The Energy Model worksheet is used to simulate the energy consumption and/or production of various types of facilities, including individual measures and systems. A fully integrated user manual facilities data entry by the user.
Visit the RETScreen website to download RETScreen Expert and see why it is so aptly suited to assisting Canada’s health care facility and energy managers in taking a data-driven approach to managing energy use. From benchmarking to consumption tracking and GHG emissions, energy audits and more, RETScreen provides a solution for health care energy professionals to take control of their facility portfolio.
Interested in rapidly developing an understanding and gaining hands-on experience with RETScreen? Then consider taking the three-day Certified RETScreen® Expert (CRE) course which includes access to a fully-functioning 90-day trial subscription. Depending upon your location, training subsidies may be available to help reduce your cost.
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. In addition to assistance with RETScreen, 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 and other funding programs documents for potential funding assistance.
Our HELC team is equipped to assist you in implementing RETScreen in your health care organisation and helping you develop a sound energy management plan. In addition, HELC also provides 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 and other program documents for funding assistance. Reach us at jj.knott@greenhealthcare.ca
JJ Knott, the Coalition’s Certified RETScreen Expert is available to help health care organisations across Canada establish RETScreen Clean Energy Management Software as an integral part of their overall strategic energy management initiative.
Through the RETScreen software, the Healthcare Energy Leaders Canada program can help health care facilities quickly analyze cost savings, feasibility, and emissions reductions related to proposed energy conservation measures. The program can also be used to help prioritize projects based on net present value analysis, return on investment, cost to benefit analysis, and future cash flows. It also enables the health care organisation to monitor and track energy savings and to report on cumulative savings resulting from completed projects, with adjusted baselines based on project completion dates. RETScreen can also be used to track energy consumption by single facility or based on a portfolio of multiple facilities, and has the capability to simplify report writing based on any project.
The Coalition and HealthCare Energy Leaders Canada looks forward to assisting health care organisations across Canada with analysis of energy conservation measures and/or the implementation of the RETScreen analysis tool within their organisation.
- Natural Resource Canada Software Tools
- RETScreen Wikipedia page
- Clean Energy Management Software
- Clean Energy Project Analysis Software
- RETScreen eLearning YouTube channel
Connect with Gregory Leng for advice and guidance: Gregory Leng – LinkedIn
RETScreen Clean Energy Management Software is the property of the Government of Canada. The RETScreen logo is used with permission.