Medical Construction & Design (MCD) is the industry's leading source for news and information and reaches all disciplines involved in the healthcare construction and design process.
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green sustainable and intelligent service platforms. These service offerings use sophisticated analytics to continuously collect, interpret and act upon data from HVAC, BAS and other building systems. Intelligent services give facility teams the tools needed to manage energy consumption, reduce operating costs, minimize environmental footprint, improve building system reliability and uptime, and resolve system problems faster and more efficiently. Operators that use an intelligent service platform can resolve many problems remotely, eliminating the need for service calls. Working with trusted and experienced service providers, many hospital facility directors have been able to focus internal facility team resources on other priorities and reduce labor costs. Advanced technologies will continue to drive future improvements Original equipment manufacturers will no doubt continue to improve the energy efficiency of building systems in the years to come. However, the most impactful opportunity to improve hospital energy efficiency will come from enabling building systems to operate in harmony. Continuing developments in control technology, wireless communication, cloud computing and common operating systems will enable new levels of building system interoperability. Building modeling and analysis software is becoming more capable, intuitive and easy for building designers to use. Today's best programs enable design professionals to compare the impact of various choices and use net present value calculations to develop an accurate view of the cost-saving potential of energy conservation measures over a building's decades-long occupied life. These capabilities are extremely valuable for teams working on new construction and retrofit projects. For existing buildings, many hospitals are discovering the benefits of adopting commissioning, re-commissioning and continuous commissioning strategies to deal with aging building infrastructure and realizing the full value of capital investments. Experts at the www.mcdmag.com Lawrence Berkley National Laboratory note that building performance tends to degrade over time, so they advocate continuous monitoring, fault detection and diagnosis and commissioning to keep buildings operating at the original design performance levels. Healthcare organizations are strong candidates to adopt alternative HVAC approaches as they become more practical, competitive and readily available. Examples include geothermal heat pumps, thermal storage technologies, modular HVAC systems and ductless air conditioning, among others. Some hospitals have been leaders when it comes to generating the energy usage onsite, often using alternative generation methods such as solar, wind or fuel cells. As technology improves, more organizations will find that a distributed generation model makes sense. In addition to reducing energy costs, it will enable them to sell excess power generated to the public power grid, realizing the potential of a net-zero building that creates more energy than it consumes. Doing more with less has become a way of life for hospitals and construction industry partners. Designers and builders are doing their part to help customers cope with cost pressures while also creating indoor environments that support hospitals' primary patient-care missions. Energy-saving, high-performance building technologies and practices and intelligent services platforms help healthcare organizations achieve their mission and pay for themselves many times over a building's occupied life. Matt Gates is vice president of energy management services and solutions for Trane. He has more than 22 years of experience in the HVAC, building management and construction industries. CURE YOUR STORAGE HEADACHES Louvered Panels with InSight® Bins TiltView® Stack Cart Wire Shelving with Indicator® Bins Steel Shelving with Super-Size AkroBins® AKRO-MILS PRODUCTS Are designed to improve inventory control, increase productivity and meet compliance and cleanliness standards in any healthcare setting. To fnd out more about how you can simplify your storage and organization challenges, contact us at 800.253.2467 or akro-mils.com. Watch our Healthcare Video Follow Us ©2013 Akro-Mils/Myers Industries, Inc. #AKM285 November/December 2013 | Medical Construction & Design 37