Energy use to be studied at new health center

CEO and Hospital Administrator Deb Cardin addressed the issue of retrocommissioning with the board of trustees during its meeting Monday.

Retrocommissioning would focus on the optimization of energy. In an agreement with Alliant Energy, Michael?s Engineering, would inspect the hospital?s automation system. Alliant Energy would pay for the cost of the study, and the hospital would promise to implement policies suggested by the engineering firm. The cost of the policies would not exceed $100,000.

Alliant Energy estimated improvements suggested by the study would save at least $50,000 per year on energy bills, therefore potentially recovering the study costs within a two-year period.

Energy bills at the new hospital facility have been much higher than expected, and Cardin has written a letter to the engineering firm responsible for the building design, HGA.

According to the board, requests for personnel visits during construction were disregarded.

?I think there was a lot of pressure to get them down here, and it was ignored,? said chief financial officer Gene Irwin.

?But isn?t that what we were paying for?? asked board member Dorian Atwood.

Medical staff representative David Larson noted both the Fairfield Clinic and the Medical Arts Clinic experienced ?problems on a daily basis.?

According to Cardin, the energy bills at the new facility are significantly higher than bills of an old building with similar square footage. She said the letter to HGA requested assistance with determining the cause of the problem.

?We truly do not know if it has to do with the automation systems,? she said. ?I have been anticipating lower bills than at the other building, and that has not happened. So together we?re just trying to figure out why. Is it the design features? Is the automation system? What is it??

Atwood suggested documenting the problem with a letter of complaint, and other members of the board agreed about the importance of keeping facts and figures documented as the energy actions progress.

For the complete article, see the Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2010, printed edition of The Fairfield Ledger.