Spectrum Health – Lemmen Holton Cancer Pavilion – 2nd Place in Health/Hospital Category

Spectrum Health’s Lemmen-Holton Cancer Pavilion is located at 145 Michigan NE in downtown Grand Rapids. It opened in June 2008 as part of Spectrum Health’s Cancer Center – a collaboration of the Spectrum Health network of hospitals, Spectrum Health Medical Group and affiliated providers. Lemmen-Holton’s full range of cancer services includes prevention, screening and diagnosis, personalized cancer treatment, integrative therapies, supportive care services, access to clinical trials and leading-edge technology.

The facility is connected to Spectrum Health’s Butterworth Hospital just across Michigan Avenue through an underground tunnel system.

This is Spectrum Health’s second year competing in Michigan Battle of the Buildings. Through targeted energy conservation measures, Lemmen-Holton Cancer Pavilion reduced its energy consumption 2.7 percent in 2016. These efforts included ongoing commissioning, parking garage lighting improvements, HVAC equipment scheduling, and chilled water flow optimization.

“Analyzing our HVAC equipment operation and scheduling has resulted in our largest energy reduction strategy,” explains Facilities Energy Project Manager Jim Karas. “Specifically, we removed our smaller IT and communication closets from our main air handling systems, and added dedicated single-zone split DX cooling systems to condition these spaces independently. This has allowed these specific room types to be controlled and scheduled independently without impacting our large air handling systems operation.”

The Spectrum Health hospital network has set an annual $500,000 energy cost reduction goal that includes all major buildings. Facility improvements are constantly in progress to reduce energy consumption, and typically exceed this goal. A primary objective is to maintain or exceed the level of service provided to occupants.

Spectrum Health’s facility team is excited to receive second place accolades in the Health/Hospital category in Michigan Battle of the Buildings. The award supports the organization’s efforts to maintain a positive, healthy hospital image for patients, staff and the respective communities where its facilities are located.

Pictured from left to right: Cheri Holman – USGBC West Michigan, Hillary Vadnal – Trane.

Karas suggests that organizations looking to renovate lighting systems to reduce energy consumption hire a lighting designer to perform a photometric analysis for the proposed design. “You don’t want to reduce light quality after a lighting retrofit,” he explains. “The goal should be to provide the same or improved space illumination. A lamp-for-lamp strategy sometimes can work, but generally someone should review the layout from a photometric perspective.”

Regarding other energy-saving strategies: “Consider variable speed drives for chillers, pumps, and fans, as most HVAC equipment is designed for peak loading. Our building systems spend significant time at conditions less than peak, so many energy dollars can be saved in large facilities when systems are allowed to ramp down.”

Finally, Karas advises those just beginning energy-saving initiatives start by tracking their facility’s energy consumption. “Calculate your cost per square foot. Understand where your energy costs are going, and then start making improvements.”

Published in the Grand Rapids Business Journal
Written by Mark Zoeteman of FTC&H