Aurora Lakeland Medical Center Earns ENERGY STAR® Certification
(Elkhorn, WI) The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) honored Aurora Health Care’s Lakeland Medical Center with its ENERGY STAR® certification for superior energy performance. This is the 10th Aurora Health Care hospital in the state to earn this prestigious honor. Aurora Health Care utilized the FOCUS ON ENERGY® retrocommissioning program which identified improvement measures to meet the ENERGY STAR® performance thresholds. ENERGY STAR® is the only energy efficiency certification in the country based on actual, verified energy performance.
“This is an amazing accomplishment, especially considering the age of the building,” said Ania Horner, President, Aurora Lakeland and Aurora Burlington Medical Centers. “This is a testament to many hard years of work on behalf of our Facilities team.”
Paul Stirmel, Facilities Operations Manager, Chris Worth, Gregg Pfaffe Dan Gutche, Carl Eggert, And Floyd Borkhuis, the team responsible for the ENERGY STAR® Certification.
In 2021, Focus on Energy, in partnership with Elkhorn Light & Water, sponsored the Aurora team with a grant for a retrocommissioning study at Aurora Lakeland Medical Center which included:
Building Systems Repair and Tune-up
Schedules/Unoccupied Area Controls
Air Temperature, Duct Static Pressure, Steam/Hot Water/Chilled/Condenser Water Resets
Fan Speed Controls
This comprehensive operations improvement approach should reduce Lakeland Medical Center’s energy use by an estimated 588,649 kilowatt hours and 75,433 therms in the first year. That is enough energy to power 101 homes in Walworth County for a year. The project qualifies for an estimated incentive of $82,236 from Focus on Energy.
“The ENERGY STAR® status represents diligent work of the team to implement best practices, paying careful attention to energy performance each month while maintaining a safe and healthy environment for patients and teammates,” said Paul Stirmel, Facilities Operation Manager.
On average, ENERGY STAR® certified buildings and plants use 35 percent less energy, cause 35 percent fewer greenhouse gas emissions, and are less expensive to operate.
“Aurora Health Care’s mission of helping people live well resonates at all levels and roles. Being a community partner means effectively managing our resources, including high performance building operation,” said Jedd Winkler, Aurora Health Care Energy Program Manager, Facilities Operations. “Utilizing the Focus on Energy retrocommissioning program allowed us to bring professional commissioning resources on board to collaborate with our site team. The partnership with Focus on Energy and the recognition from ENERGY STAR® demonstrates the Aurora Health Care commitment to ‘objectively’ reduce energy usage and waste creating a healthier environment in the communities we serve.”
Aurora Health Care and Focus on Energy have worked together on four retrocommissioning projects as well as hundreds of energy efficiency projects over the past 12 years. Whether it is the healthcare industry or large industrial manufacturers, or Wisconsin’s farmers, energy efficiency generates savings for the businesses as well as savings those businesses can pass down to customers. Healthcare operators, like Aurora Health Care, can generate $20 in revenue for every $1 saved with energy efficiency.
“Aurora Health Care is a veteran Wisconsin business when it comes to the Focus on Energy retrocommissioning program,” said Lisa Stefanik, Focus on Energy Managing Director. “The Aurora Lakeland Medical Center has served Walworth County for 125 years. This energy efficiency project not only saves about 16% on energy bills each year, it also keeps Lakeland Medical Center focused on the Aurora Health Care mission ‘to help all people live well’ for the next 125 years.
Aurora Health Care is the largest health system in Wisconsin and a national leader in clinical innovation, health outcomes, consumer experience, and value-based care. The state's largest private employer, the system serves patients across 17 hospitals, more than 70 pharmacies, and more than 150 sites of care. Aurora Health Care, in addition to Advocate Health Care in Illinois and Atrium Health in the Carolinas, Georgia and Alabama, is now part of Advocate Health, the fifth-largest nonprofit, integrated health system in the United States. Committed to providing equitable care for all, Advocate Health provides nearly $5 billion in annual community benefits.
