Hill York’s hygreen Performance Group has agreed to provide Energy Star benchmarking for acute care and children’s hospitals who are active members of the South Florida Hospital & Healthcare Association (SFHHA). Energy Star is a joint program of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy that provides an innovative energy performance rating system which businesses – including hospitals – have already used for more than 130,000 buildings across the country. EPA also recognizes top performing buildings with the Energy Star label. As an Energy Star Partner (Service & Product Provider), and an Affiliated Member of the SFHHA, Hill York recognizes that hospitals have two-and-one-half times the energy intensity and carbon emissions of commercial office buildings. So the opportunity for energy use reduction is huge … and benchmarking is the first step on the roadmap to energy savings.
Hospitals interested in participating in this program will have to answer a few basic questions about their operations (e.g., gross square footage and number of beds) and provide a year’s worth of energy bills. Hill York will provide a report showing the Energy Star rating, a comparison of the energy performance of their building(s) compared to the industry average and may suggest possible opportunities for improvement. There is no cost or obligation on the hospital’s part for this service, provided that the hospital is an acute care or children’s facility and is currently a member in good standing of the SFHHA.