Combined heat and power projects can prove beneficial for hospitals, which use massive amounts of energy each day, according to Midwest Energy News.
The Gundersen Health System hospital campus in La Crosse, Wis., became the first hospital in the country to attain "energy independence," as Gundersen's sustainability program "Envision" describes it, partly due to two CHP projects, according to the report. For instance, methane gas from the nearby county landfill is used to power a turbine that generates electricity, the report reads. Heat from the generation is used for the campus.
Additionally, Gundersen in 2013 unveiled a biomass CHP operation that uses waste from nearby lumber operations to power a boiler that generates steam that is necessary for heating and humidifying the building during the winter and for sterilizing instruments and materials throughout the year. "The heat from that boiler is captured and funneled back into the system, greatly increasing its efficiency and reducing costs," the report reads.
Midwest Energy News cites CHP benefits at other hospitals as well. For instance, CHP helped Mississippi Baptist Medical Center in Jackson, Miss., survived a 52-hour blackout during Hurricane Katrina, according to a 2007 guidebook on CHP and hospitals published by federal agencies. Also, a U.S. Department of Energy fact sheet on CHP and hospitals shows that in 2009, New York-Presbyterian Hospital in New York City installed a 7,500 kw gas turbine CHP system that was estimated to save the hospital $5 million per year and reduce carbon emissions by 67,000 tons per year, accoridng to the report. A CHP gas turbine system installed by Austin-based Dell Children's Medical Center of Central Texas in 2007 saved millions of dollars that were reinvested in other conservation measures, the report reads.
CHP "makes sense at a lot of facilities though it needs to be looked at on a case by case basis," Cliff Haefke, Midwest director of a DOE program to promote CHP, said during a recent webinar, according to the report. "Higher efficiency translates to lower operating cost but requires capital investment."
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