UHN wins 2 coveted awards for ‘green’ achievements

HealthAchieve recently recognized UHN with two coveted Green Health Care Awards – making UHN the only organization to win two awards.

UHN was selected for awards in Energy Efficiency and Water Conservation & Protection categories, as announced on Nov. 4, 2013.

As the premier Health Care Conferences in Ontario, HealthAchieve recognizes leadership and excellence in reducing health care's environmental impact with the Green Health Care Awards.

These awards are widely recognized by hospitals across Ontario.

How did UHN win?

UHN combines people and technology to conserve and be efficient. Conservation means not wasting water and energy. Efficiency means fixing, replacing and maintaining building systems behind the scenes to run properly and use less. Here are some of UHN's star projects:

• Operation TLC: 70 UHN staff volunteered as energy experts, coac​hing their departments to conserve. From the time of award submission until now, that number has grown to 140.
• Shut the Sash: UHN's Research Green Team helps colleagues shut the sash on their very energy-intense fume-hoods, saving energy from heating, cooling and moving air (HVAC)
• Variable Frequency Drive (VFD) installation on fan motors allows them to slow down after hours, saving $157,000 worth of energy annually
• Lighting: UHN has installed almost 300 hyper-efficient LED lights, with 2,000 more scheduled to go.
• Changing from a constant flow to a variable flow chilled water system saves energy, water, and almost $68,700 annually
• Condenser water temperature reset to a few degrees cooler saves $46,700 annually
• Grey-Water System: instead of using tap-water, the Krembil Discovery Tower captures rainwater for non-potable plumbing  e.g. flushing toilets and watering the garden​​

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