Efficient energy consumption at St Vincent's Hospital

Energy management companies BuildingIQ and Entro.py have enabled St Vincent’s Hospital to reduce its energy consumption by 1.7 million kWh within 14 months. The two companies successfully increased efficiency at the 125,000 m² Xavier Building on St Vincent’s medical campus in Darlinghurst, Sydney, with no disruption to hospital operations.

The hospital has a long-time practice of overcooling the Xavier Building in order to ensure optimal comfort for patients and staff. When BuildingIQ’s Predictive Energy Optimization (PEO) software was integrated with the facility’s existing building management system (BMS), managed by Entro.py, the platform was able to learn the building’s performance patterns and taking into account variables, such as weather forecasts, occupancy comfort, energy prices and demand response events.

BuildingIQ thus optimised HVAC operations and enabled St Vincent’s to meet its peak load using two chillers instead of the three that had been historically used. Within weeks of the initial deployment, total energy savings increased from 5 to 10% and continued to rise throughout the Australian summer season. By the peak month of December, total savings - not just HVAC savings - reached as much as 20%. In the first 14 months of installation, savings reached 12% of total energy consumption.

“Our work with Entro.py has allowed the hospital to see significant savings in a short amount of time,” said BuildingIQ CEO Michael Nark. “Now, St Vincent’s is able to meet peak load using one less chiller and generate additional cash flow that can be redirected to any number of the hospital’s various offerings in clinical care, research and education.”