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Providence Health & Services

Partner of the Year — Energy Management
Providence Health & Services
Seattle, Washington

Providence Health & Services (PH&S) is a not-for-profit regional network of more than 230 healthcare facilities — hospitals, clinics, assisted living, and others — that treat patients in communities from Alaska to California. PH&S believes in taking a holistic approach to human healing: To heal the patient, one must also heal the planet. More than 10 years ago, the President of PH&S challenged the network to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by saving energy as a way to uphold the organization's core value of environmental stewardship. PH&S joined ENERGY STAR to learn best practices and began using the ENERGY STAR Buildings Manual for technical guidance and EPA's rating system to track the energy performance of its facilities. This is the second time PH&S has received ENERGY STAR recognition. Key accomplishments include:

  • Reducing system-wide energy use by more than 7 percent in 2007, despite significant expansion of its facilities.
  • Significantly increasing energy savings over the past 3 years, from $2.3 million in 2005 to $3.4 million in 2006 to nearly $4 million in 2007.
  • Earning the ENERGY STAR for superior energy performance at 10 facilities across four states: California, Montana, Oregon, and Washington.

The year 2003 was a turning point for PH&S and its energy management program. The network of facilities achieved meaningful energy savings equivalent to more than $28 million in new business and received ENERGY STAR Partner of the Year recognition the following year. This achievement led to the establishment of a formal office of energy management services, which set a goal to find another $15 million in energy savings system-wide.

A key component of the energy management program at PH&S is benchmarking energy use on a continual basis. The organization receives automated ENERGY STAR benchmarking 12 times a year for nearly 70 sites, including all acute care hospitals, many medical office buildings, offices, and warehouses.