Energies 2018, 11(9), 2279; https://doi.org/10.3390/en11092279
Evaluation of Energy Consumption in German Hospitals: Benchmarking in the Public Sector
1
Department of Mechanical, Energy and Materials Engineering, University of Extremadura, 06006 Badajoz, Spain
2
Department of Graphical Expression, University of Extremadura, 06006 Badajoz, Spain
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Received: 20 June 2018 / Revised: 7 August 2018 / Accepted: 28 August 2018 / Published: 30 August 2018
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Building Energy Use: Modeling and Analysis)
Abstract
The use of benchmarking in the management of healthcare facilities enables immediate comparison between hospitals. Benchmarking allows ascertaining their expected energy consumption and estimating the possible savings margin. In the 2005–2015 period, 90 EU Eco-Audits of 23 public hospitals in Germany were studied to analyze the energy consumption related with weather conditions, built surface area, gross domestic product (GDP), geographic location (GL), bed numbers, and employee numbers. The results reveal that the average annual energy consumption of a hospital under normal conditions, both climatic and operational, is 0.27 MWh/m2, 14.37 MWh/worker, and 23.41 MWh/bed. The indicator dependent on the number of beds proved to be the most suitable as a reference to quantify the energy consumption of a hospital. View Full-TextKeywords:
EU Eco-Audit; hospital; energy consumption; healthcare engineering
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González González, A.; García-Sanz-Calcedo, J.; Rodríguez Salgado, D. Evaluation of Energy Consumption in German Hospitals: Benchmarking in the Public Sector. Energies 2018, 11, 2279.
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