This project conducted research on decarbonization technologies that reduce natural gas consumption in heating, ventilation, and air conditioning applications for space and water heating in healthcare buildings and other large commercial buildings for the purpose of reducing operational carbon emissions. Operational carbon emissions are a result of the consumption of energy to operate a facility, including natural gas, electricity, propane, diesel fuel, fuel oil, etc. In the United States, inpatient hospitals have the second largest energy use intensity of any building type, mainly due to constant 24/7 operation and the energy demand to operate critical life-saving systems. Globally, the healthcare industry is responsible for nearly 5 percent of total net emissions. The California Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006 mandates that statewide emission must decrease to 40 percent of 1990 emissions, and California Assembly Bill 3232 targets a 40 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions from all residential and commercial buildings by 2030.
This information has been written and assembled into a guidebook to serve as a resource for healthcare facility owners, design engineers, architects, and other stakeholders to decarbonize their buildings. A team of engineering experts researched and collected information on the background, technical description, implementation strategies, and potential barriers to implementation of various decarbonization technologies and compiled a narrative on how each technology helps to decarbonize a healthcare building when compared to the current design methods for a healthcare building. The research and report are presented on a website as a living resource that can constantly be updated to include the most relevant information available.
