Skip to content

Energetic and efficient

The region’s hospital is reducing its energy consumption by 22 per cent after infrastructure retrofitting.
325384_635291979693768284
Thunder Bay Hydro president Robert Mace (left) hears about some of the upgrades done at the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre to their heating and ventilation systems in the hospital's boiler room Friday. (Jodi Lundmark, tbnewswatch.com)

The region’s hospital is reducing its energy consumption by 22 per cent after infrastructure retrofitting.

The Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre invested about $3 million into updating heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems to be more energy efficient.

The work was completed in July and through saveONenergy Retrofit Program, Thunder Bay Hydro delivered an incentive rebate of almost $600,000 to the health sciences centre Friday.

The upgrades will also save the hospital more than 5.2 million kilowatt hours - enough to power 550 homes - annually; 22 per cent less than they previously used.

The hospital's executive director of capital planning and operations Anne-Marie Heron said the upgrades won't just save the hospital money.

"We continue to expand and augment our systems so at some point you will reach capacity. We have obviously emergency backup power as well so it's gives us a little more latitude ...for any hydro issues," she said.

The $600,000 will go towards the investment in the upgrades and Heron said they should see payback on the total investment in just two years with the energy savings.

Thunder Bay Hydro president Robert Mace said they have delivered about 250 rebates through provincial conservation programs like the Retrofit Program, but the hospital's project is by far the largest.

It's also one of the top five largest projects in Ontario.

"We're hoping obviously this size of this attracts some attention and the best thing that can happen for us and for our customers is if some of them look at this and say, 'I wonder if there is an opportunity for me, too,'" said Mace.

Anyone interested in the Retrofit program for their business can contact Thunder Bay Hydro and ask for their conservation team.





push icon
Be the first to read breaking stories. Enable push notifications on your device. Disable anytime.
No thanks