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Customer Story

Arnprior Regional Health Mission-Critical Upgrades Improve Environment, Save CA$75,000+

Arnprior Regional Health partners with Trane to improve infrastructure system reliability, lower maitenence costs, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions in the first phase of a multi-phase program. The team used energy savings performance contracting and high efficiency boilers to meet their goals - all while keeping critical operations running.

Location: Ontario, CA

Industry: Healthcare

Products Used: High Efficiency Boilers,

Services Used: Energy Savings Performance Contracting,

Topic: Cost-Saving, Products and Solutions, Large Buildings,

Project Length: 9 months

  • CA $50,000 annual savings in emergency repairs and required chemicals
  • CA $37,500 annual savings in operational and maintenance costs
  • CA $38,213 annual utility savings
  • CA $21,000 awarded in government and utility incentives
  • 160 tonnes stack emissions and greenhouse gas emissions reduced per year
  • 22% increase in seasonal heating efficiency

Challenge

Leaders at the Arnprior Regional Health (ARH) needed to mitigate risk and gain peace of mind regarding their hospital infrastructure systems. The building's 42-year-old natural gas steam boilers, which provided steam for building heat, hot water, humidification, laundry, kitchen operations and sterilization procedures, had become unreliable. Breakdowns were more frequent, and repair costs were increasing. Leaders were very concerned about the impact of unreliable systems on patient health, safety and well-being. They also were apprehensive about the potential impact on hospital operations, should the boilers reach an unserviceable condition requiring patient moves.

The hospital sought a fast-track solution to upgrade its aging boiler plant - minimizing any impact on hospital operations while optimizing the healing environment. Other objectives included improving infrastructure system reliability, reducing green-house gas emissions. and cutting maintenance costs. Funding was also a challenge, as capital funds were needed to procure much-needed medical equipment to meet patient needs.

Solution: Phase One

Innovation Wins the Business

Choosing from a number of potential energy consultants, Arnprior Regional Health leaders chose Trane to handle the project. Leaders selected Trane based largely on an innovative solution designed to ensure uninterrupted boiler plant performance during the upgrade process.

ARH leaders also chose to pursue an energy performance contract with Trane, to enable healthcare leaders to use future energy savings to fund the upgrades instead of using ARH capital. The completed performance contract would cover a second phase of the project if Arnprior decided to move forward with additional work with Trane.

With the project secured, Trane began the facility upgrade process by performing an energy analysis of the facility. Using monthly utility information and local weather data, Trane created a baseline natural gas use profile, showing a typical heating consumption profile for the building calibrated to a typical weather year. The analysis determined that replacing the boiler plant and integrating it with the existing steam plant would reduce water use and energy consumption while also lowering maintenance costs.

About Arnprior Regional Health

A regional leader in selected acute, long-term care and other health needs, Arnprior Regional Health is located about 65 km west of Ottawa. With a staff of 300 and a growing number of medical staff all supported by almost 200 volunteers, the progressive 44-bed hospital, which also includes a nursing home, provides care to over 30,000 residents of West Ottawa, McNab/Braeside, Arnprior and Mississippi Mills.

Providing Superior Quality, Reducing Installation Costs

In order to help ensure uninterrupted patient care, the project team moved quickly with Trane’s innovative boiler plant replacement plan. Rather than removing and replacing the equipment, Trane built the new hot water boiler plant in a separate warehouse, while the existing steam plant continued to keep operations running. The controlled environment enabled the group to build a boiler plant of superior quality, while keeping labour rates down and minimizing disruption to hospital operations. The self-contained plant was pre-assembled, and factory tested, then shipped on skids to the job site, located adjacent to the existing boiler plant. With the crew only needing to connect to the power source and piping, installation was fast and less costly.

Ensuring Seamless Integration

During installation of this phase of work, Trane worked closely with the hospital to ensure seamless integration of the new hot water boiler plant with the existing steam boiler plant. New supply-and-return water piping was installed to feed the hot water across to the hospital’s other main mechanical room and displace the use of steam there. The updated plant provides hot water to different heating zones across the facility, including offices, mechanical rooms, and a glycol heating loop feeding air handling units. 

Results: Phase One

Thanks to ongoing collaboration between healthcare leaders and Trane, the new boiler plant was online less than nine months from contract award. Upgrading the facility’s aging steam boiler plant with a new, highly efficient condensing hot water boiler plant generated substantial savings for the healthcare facility, mitigating risk and increasing peace of mind for hospital leaders.

The new boiler plant is also saving $50,000 Canadian dollars a year in emergency repairs and chemicals required to keep the previous plant operating. The new highly efficient boilers reduce stack emissions and greenhouse gas emissions by approximately 160 tonnes per year. The new natural gas-fired hot water plant eliminated the loss of steam, reducing water consumption by 95,000 gallons a year and increasing seasonal heating efficiency from 68 percent to 90 percent.

As a result of significantly lower repair costs and reduced staff hours due to a more reliable heating plant, the hospital is saving more than CA$37,500 in annual operational and maintenance costs. The project also provides CA$38,213 in annual utility savings, which includes gas, water and electricity savings. After meeting specific measurement and verification guidelines, the project also qualified for CA$21,000 in government and utility incentives.

Trane listens well and is absolutely committed to finding solutions to our key issues. They have demonstrated honesty, accountability, and a willingness to work with us to find creative, but responsible, solutions. They are always prepared and show passion for the solutions they can provide.

John Gruno, Building & Environmental Services Manager, Arnprior Regional Health

“Based on this success, we are exploring other energy saving improvements with Trane,” said John Gruno, manager, Building & Environmental Services, Arnprior Regional Health. “Trane listens well and is absolutely committed to finding solutions to our key issues. They have demonstrated honesty, accountability, and a willingness to work with us to find creative, but responsible, solutions. They are always prepared and show passion for the solutions they can provide.”

Pleased with the project results, hospital leaders have since engaged Trane in a second upgrade phase designed to address deferred maintenance issues and modernize facility infrastructure systems to improve the facility’s indoor environmental quality (IEQ) to support patient care.

Read Phase 2