Susquehanna Health Grows While Cutting Energy Costs

Susquehanna Health cut its utility costs 36 percent per square-foot compared to 2009, according to NorthCentralPA.com.

Susquehanna’s Williamsport Regional Medical Center’s campus has grown by half since 2010, but the actual cost of heating and cooling have decreased by eight percent on an apples-to-apples basis. The strategy to achieve the comparative gains include the deployment of high-efficiency boilers and chillers, a new Energy Service Center, a co-generation heat-to-power system and continuously seeking the lowest prices for electricity and natural gas, the story says.

The co-generation system produces 1900 KW of electricity per hour, which generates enough each minute to power a typical home for a day. The heat from the process produces 4,000 pounds of steam per hour. This steam heats the facility, provides hot water and sterilizes instruments.

Keeping power on at medical facilities is vital. In July, Powered for Patients – a non-profit established after Hurricane Sandy – announced that two senior federal officials, Paul Stockton and Kevin Yeskey had agreed to be advisers. Powered for Patients safeguards backup power and expedites restoration if power does go down.

Stockton is a former assistant secretary of defense for Homeland Defense and Americas’ Security Affairs and Yeskey is a former director of the Office of Preparedness and Emergency Operations and Deputy Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response at the US Department of Health and Human Services.