We’ve often joked about acronym bingo, what with all the BRBs, IMOs and OMGs, but have you heard of MUSH? Not the bowl full in Goodnight Moon, but Municipalities, Universities, Schools and Hospitals … that MUSH.
Turns out this is a pretty important category when it comes to energy, since we are Continue reading
Almost all buildings, in particular hospitals, have a Building Automation System (BAS). It’s is like the brain of a building. Continue reading
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.
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
Yes, I am from the 90s when Terminator 2: Judgement Day was the coolest thing since sliced bread. Since then, Continue reading
As all of our devoted followers know, UHN’s Energy and Environment team is constantly looking for opportunities to upgrade old inefficient lighting to highly efficient LEDs. Over at the Toronto Rehab Bickle Centre, facilities has had ongoing problems with light levels in the parking areas, largely due to existing HID metal halide lamps burning out. The existing lighting consisted of a mix of 400W and 250W metal halide lamps, which have an average operating life of 8,000-15,000 hours (i.e. 1-2 years). With several lamps burning out, we had an opportunity to go with a better LED option.
My wife and I were looking for a home in the hot Toronto housing market, but we had been having a rough go of it (bidding wars, hidden problems, outright lies, etc). So when a little two story semi-detached house became available for rent just down our street, we grabbed it. We moved from our tiny one bedroom apartment to remain as renters for a bit longer, just a little more comfortably. As both of us are sustainably inclined we still wanted to make it as energy efficient as possible, but what is a renter to do?
Also – a bit of unexpected yet good news Monday at HealthAchieve – UHN became the first ever hospital to be inducted into the Energy Efficiency Winner’s Circle. The award recognizes UHN’s leadership in energy management within Ontario hospitals over the years. We also received the Waste Management Award but we lost Green Hospital of the Year by 20 votes…20 votes!!! But we were acknowledged as a finalist. Feel good…this is a sizeable accomplishment!
Ed Rubinstein, Lisa Vanlint, Kady Cowan, Adeline Cohen & Stewart Dankner celebrate 3 Green Healthcare wins for UHN
Energy Winner’s Circle, Waste Reduction & Green Hospital Finalist
