By Bhushan Avsatthi / Special to Healthcare Facilities Today

The Healthcare and construction industry is facing a hailstorm, and is heavily relying on its rescue team of architects and structural engineers more than ever to identify the potential operating efficiency in new and existing buildings. 

On one hand where technology advancement has resulted in better treatment for patients, it has also led to higher energy consumption and elevated costs. The fact remains that hospital buildings and various other medical facilities tend to gulp energy more than other public buildings, for they are occupied by thousands or hundreds of occupants, employees every day. 

In 2015, about 40% of total U.S. energy consumption was consumed in residential and commercial buildings, or about 39 quadrillion British thermal units. According to Energy Information Administration (EIA) hospitals encompass a mere 2 percent of commercial floor space, but they use around 4.2 percent of commercial energy. However, it’s not something that cannot be worked upon. Definitely, there is a room for improvement. 

As one of the inseparable component of BIM sustainability initiative in buildings, Energy Modeling is rightfully taking lead as a reliable metric in evaluation of building performance. However; Healthcare industry needs something more specific than just an evaluation of building model. Healthcare’s primary concern is air quality, health and safety. Generally HVAC system and Lighting solutions, delivered by MEP contractors, is the first thing that strikes us when we think of improving energy efficiency in hospitals and healthcare facility. 

Though these two are undoubtedly crucial to the efficiency journey; Building Envelope analysis is often neglected and forgotten.

Building envelope:

It is no shock that building envelope integrity ordinarily takes a back seat to more persuasive priorities, at least until the roof leaks, mold is discovered, distracting odors or noises disrupt normal routine, or a pest infestation gets everyone's attention. It is then only that envelope integrity leaps to the top of the facilities team's to-do list. The two much unknown benefit of Building Envelope is, it improves energy efficiency by managing the amount of air that “Leaks” in and out of the building. U.S commercial Building Envelope Leakage Database contains data for almost 400 building, including 70 constructed in last ten years of which:

• The average air leakage for the building is 20% tighter than average of 228 buildings in 2011 analysis. 

• Recent additions to the database included numerous buildings constructed to meet the specifications of sustainable building programs such as the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED rating system, as well as buildings designed and constructed with air barriers. 

• The analysis found that the 79 buildings with an air barrier had an average air leakage almost 70% less than the average for the 290 buildings not specified as having an air barrier thus demonstrating the critical need to design and construct commercial buildings with an air barrier to support sustainable building design.

With help of eQuest, energy modeler has better understanding of how they can accurately model the Envelope. The focus here will be on infiltration and whole building leakage. Through modeling, you can find out the rate of air leakage, later ensuring to not let dollars slip away easily from pocket. Hospitals and other healthcare facilities should break the traditional build approach, and opt for techniques to reduce contamination and moisture from outside air.

Energy modeling and Computation in Building Envelope imparts a greater understanding of the energy interactions between building and environment, based on the analysis of transfer processes operating in building Envelope components at minute level.

However like other buildings, HVAC plays an important part in health care facility too since its requirements are way different as compared to other structures. 

HVAC strategy:

Hospitals are one of its kinds, in terms of high amount of airflows and pressure relationship between spaces. In tightly packed facilities, it is essential to comprehend the quantity of people, peak hours of operation and how the building occupancy varies day to day in order to achieve optimal HVAC and air quality. 

A study shows that the largest energy driver for hospital is - Simultaneous requirement of cooling and re-heating pertaining to certain health codes in hospital. To dehumidify its first cooled air and then reheat it at the zone level to meet temperatures required. One way out of this is to use two systems for the same. One for latent conditioning air and another for temperature control. Another way is what your Energy Model will show you. 

With apt data and expertise the HVAC modeler can easily figure out where building needs to cut down on energy and what kind of instrument to use. Energy Modeling helps MEP designer to cut the equipment cost by setting air-leakage goals primarily and also helps in saving energy bills for the lifetime. 

Hospital buildings exist to protect the well-being of humans. It is critical for this industry to protect the patients from any harm, be it the disease or the environment. For a place that intakes and deals with so many people at time, it is a challenge to sustain in the ecosystem. 

Bhushan Avsatthi is an associate director at Hi-Tech CADD Services.