Opportunity
HVAC is the single most energy-intensive component in the McLaren portfolio which includes more than 100 operating rooms (ORs) running multiple procedures each day. OR requirements include air changes per hour (ACH), strict temperature, humidity parameters, pressure relationships, and energy-intensive (often heat-generating) surgical lighting systems, therefore, optimizing OR HVAC systems represented a significant energy reduction opportunity. To help McLaren Health Care meet its energy demand reduction target, Resolute is using its analytics software to fine-tune the systems that operate McLaren's buildings across the network which are making a significant impact on their HVAC operations.
McLaren OR Optimization Impact
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Balancing all ORs to a max of 20 ACH for potential annual portfolio savings of up to | Set back all ORs to 8 ACH during unoccupied times for potential annual portfolio savings of up to | Total potential annual portfolio savings of up to |
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Occupied Settings
20 ACH provides significantly better particle control than 15 ACH
ORs require proper ventilation, specifically fresh outside air. State and federal codes govern the minimum total and outdoor air change rates for ORs to maintain temperature, ensure particle removal and overcome equipment loads. ANSI/ASHRAE/ASHE Standard 170-2013 states that ventilation of health care facilities requires a minimum of 20 ACH and 4 ACH of outdoor air when the room is in use. McLaren had no ACH design specification/standard across its portfolio, and various sites were exchanging air above the minimum ACH. Using Resolute’s analytical data and working with McLaren leadership at the corporate and site levels, McLaren Health Care has standardized around ASHRAE 170 and is in the process of adjusting all ORs to 20 ACH.
Unoccupied Settings
ANSI/ASHRAE/ASHE Standard 170-2013
ASHRAE 170 and many state codes allow the number of air changes to be reduced “when the space is unoccupied providing that the required pressure relationship to adjoining spaces is maintained while the space is unoccupied and that the minimum number of air changes indicated is re-established anytime the space becomes occupied” (7.1-Subsection a.3).
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About McLaren Health Care
McLaren Health Care, headquartered in Grand Blanc, Michigan, is a fully integrated health network committed to quality evidence-based patient care and cost efficiency. The McLaren system includes 15 hospitals, ambulatory surgery centers, over 80,000 Surgeries performed in 2021, imaging centers, an employed primary care physician network, commercial and Medicaid HMOs covering more than 640,000 lives, home health and hospice providers, retail medical equipment showrooms, and pharmacy services, and a wholly-owned medical malpractice insurance company.
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