Medical equipment represents significant energy loads in healthcare facilities, yet there are no clear standards currently available to compare power consumption across brands or identify the most energy-efficient units.
Beyond Energy Star
The intention of this energy efficiency credit is to deal with an important product category, yet one not yet covered by EPA’s Energy Star program. This credit is structured to incentivize market transformation towards more energy-efficient diagnostic imaging (X-ray, MRI) equipment, and sterilization equipment, and point-of-use electric steam generators installed in healthcare projects. This equipment is not currently covered by other LEED energy efficiency credits.
NC and CI rating systems
Although developed in a health care context, PC3 is open via IDc1 to all projects using these NC and CI LEED 2009 rating systems.
Credit Submittals
General:
- Register for Pilot Credit(s) here.
- Register a username at LEEDuser.com, and participate in online forum
- Submit the feedback survey using the link on the USGBC.org credit page; supply PDF of your survey/confirmation of completion with credit documentation
Credit Specific:
To gain credit, at least 50% of the plug load of applicable equipment purchased in the project must be among the 25th percentile of lowest energy consumers for that class of equipment. Electric powered equipment shall be compared based on its idle (or “standby”) mode electrical energy consumption, as stated on the nameplates of multiple brands. Since different manufacturers of similar equipment may offer different power modes that are incomparable across other brands, the committee chose to compare idle power because it is a uniform metric across manufacturers. In cases where the medical equipment is always in operation for patient safety purposes, normal power (or continu-ous operation mode) should be substituted for idle power so a valid comparison can be made. Thermally powered equipment shall be compared based on thermal energy use at peak demand. For equipment that uses both thermal and electrical energy, both sources shall be considered.
Additional Questions
- What other equipment should be included in this credit?
- Should this credit be expanded to all process equipment, such as that in retail facili-ties? Explain.