Southwest Energy Efficiency Project

University of New Mexico Hospital, Albuquerque

University Hospitals First constructed in 1951, the University of New Mexico Hospital has expanded over the years to now include 754,000 square feet of conditioned space, offering the entire range of modern health care services.

Electrical consumption for the complex is approximately 23 kWh per square foot per year, which compares very favorably to other hospitals in the Albuquerque area. The annual expense for 17.4 million kilowatt-hours of electricity is about $1.4 million. Gas consumption is more difficult to quantify, as the hospital's boilers supply steam to a remote cancer center in addition to the main hospital complex. Based on the available data, the complex uses an estimated 83 billion Btu per year in purchased natural gas, or 110,000 Btu per square foot per year. This fuel is purchased from Western Natural Gas at a cost of about $400,000 per year.

Rebuild New Mexico recommended nine different energy efficiency steps the hospital could take, including: install economizers on the boilers to capture waste heat; install variable frequency drive motors on chilled storage pumps; replace all T-12/magnetic lighting with T-8/electronic lighting; replace incandescent lamps with compact fluorescents; and add occupancy sensors in intermittent use areas.

As of August 2002, the following steps had been taken:

Major upgrades to the medical air system
Facility-wide lighting retrofit

The average payback period for these actions is approximately 17 months, as indicated in the following table:

Energy Efficiency Actions: University Hospital, Albuquerque
Installed cost	$450,000
Cost savings	$320,000 per year

Rebuild New Mexico is also assisting UNM Hospital in the preparation of Requests for Proposals for selecting contractors to perform additional upgrades. Hospital management is considering financing these upgrades using a performance contract.

© 2002-2008 Southwest Energy Efficiency Project
2260 Baseline Rd. Suite 212, Boulder, CO 80302
(303) 447-0078 fax: (303) 786-8054 info@swenergy.org

Last Updated: 01/28/2008