Category Archives: Energy Stories (powerful stuff)

UHN: A Medical Innovator, But Also An Energy Innovator

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My previous blog described a unique energy conservation project at UHN’s Princess Margaret Cancer Research Tower (PMCRT). With innovative contaminant sensing technology, we were able to convert our research lab exhaust system from constant flow to variable flow, which significantly decreased loading on the exhaust fan motors. As described in the blog, this change produced a reduction in electricity peak demand (kW) of 38.5% and reduction in overall annual electricity consumption (kWh) of 42.7%.

We thought this was a Continue reading →

Savings at PMCRT will Blow You Away!

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Princess Margaret Cancer Research Tower. Photo Credit

Next in our list of exciting energy endeavors, this blog will discuss huge savings realized by a retrofit to the laboratory exhaust system at the Princess Margaret Cancer Research Tower (PMCRT). The lab exhaust system has been converted from constant speed to demand controlled to ensure more efficient operation. I’ll get into all the super interesting details below, but the best part is the savings so I’ll start off with that. Continue reading →

Stopping To Smell The (Energy Saving) Roses – An Operation TLC Celebration

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When it comes to saving energy, it’s easy to get so focused on how far we need to go to meet our targets and goals that we forget to take a look back to see how far we’ve come.  Case in point – this past April, UHN set new, aggressive energy saving targets, replacing our original, aggressive energy saving targets that we hadn’t fully met.  And I was so intent in figuring out how well we were doing against our new targets that it wasn’t until last month that I realized that, albeit 6 months later than we’d planned..

We’re meeting our original energy consumption saving target!

This is something all at UHN should celebrate – it truly is a team effort in every sense of the word.  So, before we return to new targets and projects, take the time to pat yourself on the back and reflect for a moment, not on where we’re going, but how far we’ve come…we’ve done something good!

UHN's Golden Lightswitch Award for energy excellence.

UHN’s Golden Lightswitch Award for energy excellence.

AC Motors, VFDs, and Energy Savings at Toronto General Hospital

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I’d like to share two recent energy projects at Toronto General Hospital, which used VFDs to achieve significant energy savings and improve control.  When I say significant I mean that the savings could buy a house, well maybe not a house in Toronto.  There is also a fairly technical explanations of motors and variable frequency drives but I’ll leave that to the end for obvious reasons.

SCWP VFDs

VFDs and Harmonic Filters on Secondary Chilled Water Pumps at TGH

 

Project 1: Reinstate VFD operations on Air Handling Units

At TGH we had 17 old Continue reading →

Cooling Tower Winter Operation at Toronto Western Hospital

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Last time we talked about chilled water system upgrade at TWH.  The chilled water is pumped to various mechanical rooms to cool air supplied to the hospital, medical equipment such as MRIs and some local refrigeration machines.  Then it comes back to the central chiller plant and is cooled down by the chillers.  The chillers use refrigerant to transfer the heat from the building to condenser water side.  You may be curious where the huge amount of heat removed from the hospital goes.  The answer is Continue reading →