WMECo awards Baystate for sustainability efforts
Date: 2/14/2012
Feb. 15, 2012By G. Michael Dobbs
news@thereminder.comSPRINGFIELD — The $296 million expansion of Baystate Medical Center (BMC) has been dubbed "the hospital of the future" and that extends to the way the building uses energy.
On Feb. 7, Baystate Health Systems CEO Mark Tolosky accepted a $426,373 incentive check from Peter Clark, president of Western Massachusetts Electric Company (WMECo) in recognition of BMC's sustainability efforts.
Tolosky said WMECo had "urged us to think outside the box and minimize the environmental footprint of Baystate."
Of the $22 million WMECo allocated to encourage greater energy efficiency, Clark said the incentive was the largest the company had given.
He said that energy efficiency is "the gift that keeps on giving" and that over the life of the technology BMC should realize an annual savings of $459,000 a year.
Steve Hunter, the project executive for the new expansion, and Dennis Desmarais, director of engineering for BMC, explained the measures being used to save electricity include advanced lighting systems, new heating and cooling systems and a "green" roof.
Hunter explained the kind of lighting and its controls will reduce electrical consumption by 25 percent. He added the heating and cooling units are "the most efficient equipment on the market." The WMECo incentive helped with the purchase of that system.
Desmarais said the "green" roof is actually green as plants are going growing on it. The plants will keep the structure cool in the summer and will reduce the amount of rainwater that enters the city's sewer system. When it isn't raining, the roof will use "grey water" — water that has been used to wash hands and in showers, for instance — that will increase a recycling effort.
Patients will be allowed to walk out on the roof as well, Desmarais added, providing another benefit.
The expansion is scheduled to open next month.
