Last fall, I attended the Mobile Healthcare Technology Summit sponsored by Smith Seckman Reid, Inc. My post about the summit included five construction and design lessons when dealing with either new construction or renovations of existing health care facilities. Technology and innovation continue to improve in the arena of health care construction. Two weeks ago, Johnson Controls announced a new offering to reduce energy consumption in surgical environments.
The problem: An operating room’s HVAC system (running continuously even when the room is unoccupied) uses a substantial amount of energy to effectively ventilate and eliminate airborne contaminants
The solution: An innovative program called Healthcare Environment Optimization™ that integrates a hospital’s building automation system with surgery scheduling to optimize air exchange rates and energy use. The offering was developed in collaboration with HDR, Inc., an architecture, engineering and consulting firm.
According to Johnson Controls, some benefits of the solution include:
- The ability to track air exchange rates and temperatures for record-keeping purposes.
- An optional user interface display which gives surgical and facility staff control of the room conditions, including a manual override to adjust temperature.
- Real-time alarms which allow occupants to immediately address HVAC system problems.
- The ability to earn credits toward LEED® and ENERGY STAR® certifications.
As to the last point, credits may be earned under either LEED® New Construction or LEED® Healthcare, which made its debut this spring following a comment period by USGBC.
Image: US Navy