Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) led a team of experts who increased visibility for DOE-sponsored DG/CHP programs at the 40th Annual Conference and Exhibition of the American Society of Healthcare Engineering (ASHE). Outreach activities at this event included a Workshop, an Exhibit, and a survey questionnaire.

Participation in the event resulted in healthcare facility professionals becoming more informed of the merits of CHP systems for their facilities and 180 completed surveys on CHP system needs from the perspective of healthcare engineers. ASHE executives expressed strong interest in forming a strategic liaison with DOE/ORNL to foster adoption of CHP systems in healthcare.

“CHP: Changing the Way Energy is Produced and Used,” an interactive workshop held at the conference was chaired by Jan Berry (ORNL), who also made the opening remarks. John Cuttica (Midwest CHP Application Center, MAC) organized and moderated a panel of four experts: Mike Kuechenmeister (Drake Center), Philip Larson (Beloit Hospital), Joseph Sinclair (Ballard Engineering) and John Wimberly (I.C. Thomasson). Brief biographical sketches of the panelists, moderator and chairperson are available here in PDF format. Nearly 100 executives, directors, managers, and engineers from healthcare facilities, and engineering and consulting companies serving such facilities attended the workshop and actively participated in the Q&A session.

A display area was set-up to describe how CHP works, the business case behind CHP, why many healthcare facilities are currently embracing and benefiting from CHP, and what manufacturers are doing to design systems that simplify and lower the cost of installation of CHP in the healthcare industry. The theme of the exhibit area was “CHP: Good Today, Better Tomorrow.” Developers of CHP packaged systems that are reducing capital costs by 15-30%, shortening the time and reducing cost for installation, developing system designs that are replicable, optimizing facility energy use, and simplifying system configuration. Ed Mardiat (Burns& McDonnell), John Kelly (Gas Technology Institute), Tony Thibodeau (Honeywell) and Tom Coulbourn (United Technologies) made presentations in the exhibition area on their packaged CHP systems.

CHP systems were also featured in a mobile exhibition, Desiccant Humidity Control Van (DHCV), located adjacent to the above display area. Presentations in the DHCV included “CHP Systems Today and Tomorrow” and “Applications of Desiccant Systems in Healthcare Facilities.” Dharam Punwani (Avalon Consulting), Doug Kosar (MAC), and Danny Dotson and Peter Teige (Munters) hosted the DHCV. Over 200 professionals toured the DHCV.

The DG/CHP team that worked together for the ASHE event was led by Jan Berry (ORNL) and incorporated many experts: Jan Berry (ORNL), John Cuttica and Leslie Farrar (Midwest Application Center), Mary Scheibel and Helen Lukas (Scheibel & Halaska), C. J. Cordova ( D & R International), John Kelly (Gas Technology Institute), Walter Woods (American Gas Foundation), Dharam Punwani (Avalon Consulting).

For more information on CHP systems and their applications in healthcare facilities, contact Jan Berry (ORNL) at hospitals@ornl.gov or go to http://www.eere.energy.gov/chp/hospitals