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G/BA's 2015 Hospital Energy and Water Benchmarking Survey accepting submissions! Click here!
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How does your hospital stack up?
G/BA 2014 Benchmarking Survey 
Water/Sewer and Carbon Footprint Results

Part II: Water/sewer use and costs, carbon footprint, and energy per bed
 
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Since 2001, when G/BA first started tracking water/sewer data, hospital usage of these resources has steadily declined. But there's still quite a range of usage patterns among survey respondents.

To participate in our 2015 survey (CY2014 data), click here.
 
 
Water is a fast-emerging environmental concern.  As this vital resource has become more precious, costs have been rising.
Combined water and sewer costs now account for as much as 20% of the total utility bill for some hospitals. We expect this trend to continue.
 
Water consumption also contributes indirectly to your hospital’s carbon footprint. Water and energy are inextricably linked: 
  • The treatment and delivery of water accounts for as much as 15% of energy consumption in many parts of the country.
  • Energy accounts for 80% of a typical water bill.
  • Power plants use lots of fresh water (38% of the nationwide total), and half of that evaporates.
 By increasing efficiency through water conservation and recycling practices, your hospital can further cut its energy consumption and thus its carbon footprint.  Reducing water consumption will also reduce sewer charges.

Grumman/Butkus Associates’ 2014 Hospital Energy and Water Benchmarking Survey, a project G/BA has done as a free service to the healthcare market since 1995, indicates that hospitals’ water usage is generally trending downward. But facilities can have widely varying appetites for this resource, resulting in overall usage costs that range from over $0.80/sf/year to less than $0.20/sf/year.

Hospitals are invited to participate in the survey by submitting responses to a short list of questions regarding their usage of electricity, natural gas, oil, purchased steam, purchased chilled water, and domestic water/sewer. This year’s information, covering usage patterns in calendar year 2013, was provided by a total of 102 hospitals located in Illinois (54), Wisconsin (29), Michigan (7), Minnesota (4), Indiana (3), and several other states.

Our findings are discussed in two parts: fossil fuel and electricity consumption and costs (Part 1, released last week) and water and sewer usage and costs, as well as carbon footprint data and energy-per-bed data (Part 2, below).

All of our charts, including data not published in this bulletin, are available using the links below:
2014 Survey Results
Long-Term Trends
Water and sewer trends, usage, and costs

Although water and sewer costs are considerably less than those for electricity and natural gas, many parts of the country are experiencing price hikes, and there are pressing new concerns about water supplies and quality. Since 2001, when G/BA first started tracking water and sewer data, hospital usage of these resources has steadily declined (Chart 2.1, below).

 


“This downward trend reflects a movement to eliminate city-water-cooled equipment, as well as the use of low-flow and occupancy-based plumbing fixtures,” says G/BA Chairman Dan Doyle. “Water usage is an emerging issue. There is still much room for improvement in healthcare facilities.”

Among the participants in our survey, a few hospitals are using more than 100 gallons/sf/year, compared with some that use less than 3 gallons/sf/year. In some cases, these patterns may reflect significant facility operations differences – for instance, presence of in-house laundry services or the purchase of chilled water and/or steam.

Most of our participants are currently paying between $5 and $8 per 1,000 gallons of water, resulting in square-foot costs between $0.20 and $0.50 annually. Download our charts for complete water/sewer report data.
 
Carbon footprint trends and results

Based on world sentiment for more regulatory emphasis on greenhouse gas emissions, G/BA began sharing carbon footprint information with our participants in 2008. Chart 2.2 (below) presents the normalized carbon dioxide equivalent for respondents’ energy use in 2013, based on state average emissions factors for electricity purchases and EPA standard factors for combustion equipment.


 

As with our other metrics, we observed a wide range of carbon footprint results in our participating facilities. Most participants fell into the 50 to 70 pounds/sf/year range; but a few were higher than 80 pounds/sf/year. (The chart does not include energy related to purchases of chilled water.)

Chart 2.3 (below) shows a surprising lack of change in CO2 equivalents over time (here, calculated as CO2 equivalent from fossil fuel and electricity, extrapolated from submitted results since 1999). Scope 1 emissions include on-site combustion for heating and cooling energy. Scope 2 emissions include off-site emissions from purchased energy (electricity or district steam and chilled water).



Despite many available strategies for energy conservation related to facilities, the average CO2 usage intensity of our participant facilities has stayed stubbornly near 60 pounds/sf/year for well over a decade.

“We do see a slight downward trend, due in part to increased reliance on electricity instead of fossil fuel,” says Doyle. “But we can and must do much better. Fortunately, there are many cost-effective measures that can still be implemented at most hospitals.”
Cost per bed

Finally, this year’s Hospital Energy and Water Benchmarking Survey provided a comparison of energy cost per bed for responding hospitals. Some facilities were not able to provide bed counts with their surveys; we hope to obtain more precise data from respondents in the future.

Respondents represent more than 73 million square feet of facilities, with approximately 20,800 staffed beds reported. The average annual cost for all utilities excluding water was $9,000 per staffed bed for respondents from all states that included bed counts. For respondents that included water data, the water cost per bed was $1,050 per staffed bed.

Chart 2.4 (below) shows these costs broken out among the participants’ states, for better analysis of any regional patterns. A number of factors contribute to the differences in cost per bed for each group of hospitals:
  • Varying fuel prices in each state
  • Varying state ventilation requirements
  • Relative bed density


 
The benchmarking process and other resources

Whether your facility is just starting its energy management program or you’re far down the road, the benchmarking process helps to establish a starting point. Over time, benchmarking can provide a gauge for your ongoing progress.

Fortunately, several potential benchmarking resources are available in addition to G/BA’s survey: ENERGY STAR is the most widely known and used benchmarking tool for all facility types, including hospitals. After entering data on your hospital’s energy use, as well as some information on building characteristics and usage, ENERGY STAR provides a percentile ranking score between 0 and 100. A rating of 50 indicates average performance. A rating of 75 or above indicates top performance and makes the facility eligible for submission for an ENERGY STAR label.

When using ENERGY STAR, your data is not compared with that of all others entering data into Portfolio Manager. Instead, a newer database was compiled by the EPA, working in 2011 in conjunction with the American Society for Healthcare Engineering to provide a statistically representative sample.

A summary from the ENERGY STAR database is shown below, compared with a summary of the 2014 G/BA survey.

  
  1.  ENERGY STAR released new site-to-source conversion factors in their Portfolio Manager Technical Reference in July 2013 that lowered the source conversion factor for electricity from 3.34 to 3.14. Using the prior value of 3.34, the G/BA source energy would have been 486 kBtu/ft2/year.

We are currently collecting data for the 2015 survey (compiling data from CY2014). To participate (it’s free!) or to find more information, visit our website.


 
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