Boston Hospitals Cut Energy Use 6%, Despite Facility Growth

As a result of energy conservation and efficiency, Boston hospitals have cut their energy use by 6 percent from January 2011 through the end of 2013, despite expanding their real estate footprint and experiencing more extreme weather, according to a new report “Metropolitan Boston Health Care Energy Profile for 2011-2013.”

The report analyzed over 18,000 energy and greenhouse gas records covering 24 million square feet of Boston hospitals in a metropolitan sector-wide database based on US EPA Portfolio Manager data.

The report identifies several areas where Boston hospitals have made notable progress in energy efficiency, including:

• The sector reduced absolute, weather adjusted total energy use (electricity, gas, chilled water, oil and steam) by 227 billion Btu.
• Electricity use dropped 25.4 million kWh.
• Natural gas use dropped 1.2 million therms.
• Cost savings are conservatively estimated at $11.9 million.