Energy Consumption Analysis and Characterization of Healthcare Facilities in the United States

Khaled Bawaneh, Farnaz Ghazi Nezami, Md. Rasheduzzaman and Brad Deken
Additional contact information
Khaled Bawaneh: Department of Engineering & Technology, Southeast Missouri State University, Cape Girardeau, MO 63701, USA
Farnaz Ghazi Nezami: Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering Department, Kettering University, Flint, MI 48504, USA
Md. Rasheduzzaman: Department of Engineering & Technology, Southeast Missouri State University, Cape Girardeau, MO 63701, USA
Brad Deken: Department of Engineering & Technology, Southeast Missouri State University, Cape Girardeau, MO 63701, USA

Energies, 2019, vol. 12, issue 19, 1-20

Abstract: Healthcare facilities in the United States account for 4.8% of the total area in the commercial sector and are responsible for 10.3% of total energy consumption in this sector. The number of healthcare facilities increased by 22% since 2003, leading to a 21% rise in energy consumption and an 8% reduction in energy intensity per unit of area (544.8 kWh/m 2 ). This study provides an analytical overview of the end-use energy consumption data in healthcare systems for hospitals in the United States. The energy intensity of the U.S. hospitals ranges from 640.7 kWh/m 2 in Zone 5 (very hot) to 781.1 kWh/m 2 in Zone 1 (very cold), with an average of 738.5 kWh/m 2 . This is approximately 2.6 times higher than that of other commercial buildings. High energy intensity in the healthcare facilities, particularly in hospitals, along with energy costs and associated environmental concerns make energy analysis crucial for this type of facility. The proposed analysis shows that U.S. healthcare facilities have higher energy intensity than those of most other countries, especially the European ones. This necessitates the adoption of more energy-efficient approaches to the infrastructure and the management of healthcare facilities in the United States.

Keywords: energy analysis; healthcare; hospital; process; and non-process energy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (11)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/12/19/3775/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/12/19/3775/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:12:y:2019:i:19:p:3775-:d:273452

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().