Reducing operational costs is the number one priority for our health care and other public clients, says Mike Kaufman, president of Kaufman Lynn General Contractors. “We’re all hearing the importance of Renewable Energyit’s a global megatrend. We’ve acknowledged that our dependency on fossil fuels, and the carbon emissions they create, is an ill-fated situation. As a result, health care facilities absolutely need to consider renewable energy as part of their long-term strategic plans.”
Fortunately for health care facilities, Kaufman Lynn has already done a lot of the planning for them. “We launched our Renewable Energy Division because our clients talk about it and are now putting it into their future capital plans, and we want to be responsive to our clients’ needs,” Kaufman said. “We’ve been building facilities ranging from free-standing hospitals to ACHA (Florida Agency for Healthcare Administration) hospital projects and regulated skilled nursing facilities. This Division is a natural extension of our core competencies. “Renewable-energy technology is now more economically viable through government grants and subsidies that have reduced the cost to the point that it’s a reasonable payback period for the investment. In fact, in a relatively short time it ends up being a huge benefit to the facilities.” Kaufman Lynn’s Director of Renewable Energy, Steve Kaufman (no relation), has a very successful and extensive background in energy project development, government affairs, and a detailed knowledge of various incentives that Kaufman Lynn clients can take advantage of. “One of the primary goals in our Renewable Energy strategic plan was to educate our clients, and we are actively working to do that,” he said. He gave the example of a grant application they learned will be coming from the Florida Energy and Climate Commission soon that will apply to many of their clients. They were able to give clients advanced notice and assist them in planning how they could deploy it.(l-r) Steve Kaufman and Mike Kaufman