"Hospitals are facing a crisis. With reductions in Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements, facilities must do all they can to lower costs. Alabama Power is helping us achieve significant energy savings."
Scott Crenshaw
director, facilities management
University of South Alabama Children's & Women's Hospital
In this video, learn how USA Children’s & Women’s Hospital’s heat recovery project is expected to result in $1.2 million in energy savings the first four years of operation alone.
When Facilities Director Scott Crenshaw was looking to improve energy efficiencies and reduce costs at the USA Children's & Women's Hospital, he called his counterpart at USA Medical Center, Lawrence Gardner. Gardner explained how Alabama Power designed and implemented an innovative heat recovery system for USA Medical Center, a solution that might make sense for Crenshaw.
Alabama Power ultimately developed a similar system for the USA Children's & Women's Hospital. The new heat recovery system extracts heat from the chilled water return of the hospital's chillers. The recovered heat is used to create hot water that is utilized in heating the facility, thus reducing the hospital's reliance on gas-fired boilers. Extracting heat from the chilled water also increases chiller efficiency, resulting in even more energy savings.
Alabama Power assumed the upfront cost to build the system, and is reimbursed by the hospital from the energy savings. Once those costs are recovered, the hospital will retain 100 percent of the savings. All told, the new heat recovery system is expected to deliver some $1.2 million in energy savings in the first four years alone.