Energy conservation techniques for hospital buildings

The aim of the present paper is to review the state of the art technologies for the energy efficiency in the hospitals' sector. Hospitals are responsible for a top-heavy amount of energy demand and joint emissions, due to their 24/7 operation and extra requirements they use larger energy amount than a commercial building. In addition, they need high quality and guaranteed supplies of electricity. Moreover, the high proportion of ageing building stocks makes hospitals among the least energy-efficient buildings. Different energy-saving measures are proposed by various researchers. This study presents the most globally known technologies and techniques on energy-saving methods for hospital and healthcare facilities in order to improve their energy efficiency performance. The methodology followed includes reviewing of the most typical energy characteristics of the sector followed by the description of the main difficulties in applying energy efficiency techniques in hospitals. Finally, case studies based on the global experience are included. The energy system of a hospital organization is usually exceptionally complex and must respect strict regulations, since any changes to the performance have impact on other aspects. In general, a large differentiation of the consumption of hospitals exist from the average, due to various reasons, such as the use (general, psychiatric, health centre, etc.), the constitution year and the status of the building envelope, the insulation level, the climatic zone, the age and level of maintenance of the mechanical equipment, and the level of energy management. As a result different energy-saving measures are proposed. Implementing simple energy conservation techniques can save up to 10 per cent of primary energy consumption. To identify areas of potential savings, high-cost energy categories should be targeted and monitored taking into account an integrated energy management programme.