Sustainability and Resiliency: The Role of Combined Heat and Power
A complete transition from fossil fuels to electricity for heating and cooling has the potential to reduce the resiliency of critical facilities unless an on-site backup power supply is provided.
Among designers and operators of health care facilities, sustainability and resiliency are popular buzzwords today. The climate-change-driven emphasis on sustainability that has been prominent in other sectors of the economy for a long time is gaining traction in health care as the impact of rising global temperature is recognized as a public health issue. In the past, measures that reduced energy consumption or improved efficiency were only pursued if they provided direct cost savings that could be applied to the patient care mission, but, today, consideration of the social cost of carbon and anticipation of government-mandated emissions reductions provide increased incentives for such investments.
The more recent focus on resiliency is driven by the observed effects of major severe weather events attributed to climate change on health care facilities. Hurricane Katrina, in 2005, Hurricane Sandy, in 2012, and the severe cold weather experienced last year in Texas all resulted in extended interruptions of electric utility service to many hospitals and health care facilities. By increasing reliance on the external power grid and vulnerability to the weather-related and other events that impact it, a complete transition from fossil fuels to electricity for heating and cooling has the potential to reduce the resiliency of critical facilities unless an on-site backup power supply is provided.