Lakeridge Health / Ecosystem Energy: Deep Energy Retrofit

Lakeridge Health is one of Ontario’s largest community hospitals, servicing more than 1,600 people every day. In 2010, Lakeridge Health partnered with Ecosystem Energy Services, a Canadian energy efficiency company, to embark on an ambitious energy retrofit project for four of its hospital sites, which together amount to 136,680 square metres (1,471,200 sq.ft.).

This project includes 29 energy conservation measures and is expected to cut energy costs by 20%, or $1.2 million annually. In addition, the project will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2,078 tonnes per year, which is the equivalent of displacing the emissions produced by 310 typical Ontario family homes.

Ecosystem guarantees the energy savings and construction costs of the retrofit. The key numbers are:

• Project period: 2010-2014
• Total investment: $17,710,000
• Guaranteed annual savings: $1,257,000 (or 20%)
• Avoided cost: $7,110,000
• Subsidies/grants: $2,585,590 (including a $1.78 million incentive payment from the Ontario Power Authority as part of the “Save on Energy Process & Systems” program)
• Payback period: 6.4 years
• Reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by 2,078 tonnes per year, which is the equivalent of displacing the emissions produced by 310 typical Ontario family homes
• Reduction of mercury by 60% for all new fluorescent tubes installed
• 40,000 kWh of clean energy produced to date from photovoltaic panels installed at three of the hospitals
• 21,000,000 litres of potable water saved after optimizing the cooling network and converting the heating network from steam to hot water

The key team members involved in the project are listed below:

From Lakeridge Health:

• Kevin Empey – President and CEO
• Neil Clarke – Director of Engineering
• Mel Green – Manager, Engineering & Energy Systems
• Andreas Jacovou – Manager, Corporate Project Coordinator

From Ecosystem:

• Thierry Desjardins, ing. – VP Operations
• André-Benoit Allard, ing.- Project Director
• Guillaume Lavallée, P.Eng., – Project Manager
• Etienne deMuelenaere, EIT, – Project Designer
• Olivier Matte, ing., LEED AP, – Project Training and Awareness Coordinator
• Terry Irwin – Start-up and Optimization Technician
• Dmytro Atroshko – Start-up and Optimization Technician

The key energy conservation measures in this project are:

• Combined heat and power (CHP) plant at the Oshawa site which will generate 42% of the total project energy savings. The plant is fueled by natural gas and uses 37% less energy than a conventional power plant and boiler system

 

• LED lighting at all four hospital sites – Over 33,000 fluorescent tubes have been replaced with highly efficient fluorescent models, which will reduce Lakeridge Health’s lighting electricity consumption by 26%
• Solar power at three of the four sites – A total of 144 photovoltaic solar panels have been installed at Bowmanville, Oshawa and Port Perry, and each site now has a generating capacity of 10 kilowatts. This is power that Lakeridge Health is selling back to the province’s electricity grid as part of the Ontario Power Authority’s microFIT (feed-in tariff) 1.0 program. Each of the three sites now has a steady revenue stream of between $9,000 to $11,000 per year for a period of 20 years
• Steam to hot water conversion at three of the four sites – New hot water boilers were installed, along with a variable flow hot water heating network. The network is taking advantage of variable frequency drives to minimize the additional electricity load generated by the new pumps. Modulating the flow and maximizing the temperature differential makes for a flexible and efficient heating network

 

As well, a multitude of assets were replaced and upgraded as a result of this project. In total, Ecosystem replaced seven boilers, three chillers, four rooftop units, and four old domestic hot water tanks. As well, a new building automation control system was installed at the Whitby location. At Bowmanville and Port Perry, the building automation control system was upgraded and extended to include all of the main HVAC equipment.

Ecosystem guarantees the energy savings and construction costs of the retrofit. This performance-based model, called Integrated Energy Performance Contracting or IEPC (http://iepc.info/), drives the company to meet and surpass contractual numbers and creates a highly collaborative partnership. Design is fine-tuned at each stage to address the needs of the system operators as well as the needs of the management team. The incentives thus far have surpassed expectations and will reach $2.2 million, well over the $340,000 originally planned.

Collaboration is essential to the success of the project. Teams from both Ecosystem and Lakeridge Health’s engineering and infrastructure department hold regular meetings and are in constant communication.

“Because we’re constantly present on site, we’re able to adjust our design based on the needs of Lakeridge Health,” says Guillaume Lavallée, Ecosystem’s project manager. “Overall, it has been a smooth process with a lot of trust and open communication from both parties.”