ORLANDO, FL. (May 2, 2011) – Dr. P. Phillips Hospital has been selected to participate in the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA's) ENERGY STAR National Building Competition: Battle of the Buildings to help improve the energy efficiency of commercial buildings and protect the environment. In the spirit of popular weight-loss competitions, Dr. P. Phillips Hospital will battle it out against hundreds of other teams from buildings across the country to work off the waste through improvements in energy efficiency with help from EPA’s ENERGY STAR program.
"Our hospital is honored to be a part of EPA’s ENERGY STAR National Building Competition,” said Mark Jones, President, Dr. P. Phillips Hospital. "We are committed to improving our energy efficiency and excited that our entire team here at Dr. P. Phillips Hospital is on board for this important project.”
The 2011 ENERGY STAR National Building Competition includes 245 teams from 26 different types of commercial buildings - such as retail stores, schools, hotels, and museums - that hail from 33 states. Dr. P. Phillips Hospital is one 21 competitors in Florida and one of 10 hospitals nationwide.
Competitors will measure and track their building's monthly energy consumption over the next two months, with a small group of buildings selected as finalists in July. Among the finalists, the building that demonstrates the greatest percentage-based reduction in energy use intensity will be recognized as the winner this November.
Dr. P. Phillips Hospital has partnered with ecoPreserve, a sustainability, building certification and operational efficiency consulting firm to reduce energy usage through behavioral changes and systems upgrades. The hospital is moving forward on a series of efficiency upgrades including:
- Full building lighting upgrade including the replacement of regular bulbs with compact fluorescent light bulbs
- Installation of smart fixtures, such as motion sensors, throughout the 550,000 square foot facility
- Smart building metering and energy monitoring dashboard
- Chiller plant optimization, the use of new cooling methods to make the central energy plant more energy efficient
- Heat reducing window film
- Be an Energy Star! – employee engagement program
According to EPA, energy use in commercial buildings accounts for nearly 20 percent of total U.S. greenhouse gas emissions and energy use at a cost of more than $100 billion per year. On average, 30% of the energy used in commercial buildings is wasted. Thousands of businesses and organizations work with EPA’s ENERGY STAR program and are saving billions of dollars and preventing millions of tons of greenhouse gas emissions from entering our atmosphere each year.
Watch the battle unfold: www.energystar.gov/BattleOfTheBuildings