Kingston General Hospital has enlisted Honeywell for a $10.5-million upgrade that will bring solar power and a host of other energy efficiency measures to  the 456-bed research and teaching hospital in southeastern Ontario.

Under the program with Honeywell, the hospital is guaranteed $760,000 in utility costs annually over the life of the 15-year contract with the efficiency company. The hospital's utility bill currently is about $4.5 million annually.

As is typical in such performance contracts, the cost of the hospital's efficiency overhaul will be paid for with the savings guaranteed over the contract period. The hospital also will receive $118,000 in energy retrofit incentives from Utilities Kingston that will help finance the project.

The retrofit and upgrade program will affect more than one million square feet across 27 buildings on the Kingston General Hospital campus, which is affiliated with Queen’s University.

The most visible part of the upgrade will be the installation of solar panels on the hospital's Kidd wing. The solar energy system is expected to generate 95 kilowatts of electricity, about enough energy to power 30 homes annually. According to the hospital, the system will also provide almost $75,000 in annual revenue under the Ontario Power Authority’s Feed-in-Tariff program.

Other elements of the upgrade project include:

• Installing a new high-efficiency hot water condensing boiler plant in the hospital's Connell wing.
• Replacing six obsolete ventilation systems in the Connell wing that serve the operating rooms and other patient areas.
• Replacing more than 250 windows in the historic Watkins building, which was constructed in 1835.
• Replacing 10 oil-fired boilers with higher-efficiency, gas-fired boilers
• Optimizing the cooling, heating and ventilation systems.
• Replacing damaged piping insulation.
• Upgrading mechanical systems and installing high-efficiency motors.
• Updating lighting fixtures to more energy-efficient ballasts and lamps.
• Installing low-flow toilets, sinks and other water fixtures.
• Making improvements to the building envelope, including sealing windows and doors to reduce the loss of conditioned air.

The project, scheduled for completion by 2012, is expected to prevent about 2,200 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions per year, an amount equivalent to removing almost 740 cars from the road, the hospital estimated citing figures from Environment Canada. The upgrades also are expected to help KGH conserve nearly 72,000 cubic meters of water annually, about enough to fill 29 Olympic-sized swimming pools.

Image courtesy of Queen's University.