Investment in Energy Efficiency Pays Off for Castle Medical Center
2/16/2012 Filed under Press Releases
HONOLULU — Governor Neil Abercrombie joined public and private sector energy leaders on February 14, 2012 as Hawaii Energy — the energy efficiency and conservation program for Hawaii, Honolulu and Maui counties — presented Castle Medical Center with a check for $647,637. The ceremony was held in recognition of extensive energy efficiency measures that Castle Medical Center recently completed. The majority of the incentive presented to Castle Medical Center was made available via American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds received by the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism (DBEDT).
Here are highlights of media coverage on KHON-2 and KHNL-8.
“This is an example of how the State of Hawaii has put American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds to good use,” stated Governor Neil Abercrombie. “Partners like Castle Medical Center are key to helping our state reach the goal of 70 percent clean energy by 2030 through energy efficiency. The state currently has approximately 80 renewable energy projects in various stages of development. We have also recently entered into three agreements with partners from Asia to modernize our state’s energy grid and maximize efficiency.”
As part of the Recovery Act of 2009, the federal government allotted over $37 million for Hawaii’s energy-related programs. Hawaii Energy received just over $6 million of those funds to provide incentives for energy-efficient programs for utility customers served in Hawaii, Honolulu and Maui counties. Within that, Hawaii Energy allocated funds so that it could offer government and non-profit organization facilities up to 25 percent of costs to purchase and install customized energy efficiency measures. Castle Medical Center was the largest recipient of those funds, followed by Royal Iolani’s Association of Apartment Owners (AOAO), Bishop Museum, Pali Momi Medical Center, 1717 Ala Wai AOAO and Moana Pacific AOAO.
“We are excited that Castle Medical Center took advantage of one of our many existing offers to help bring such a large project to fruition,” said Ray Starling, Hawaii Energy Program Manager. “We have several energy efficiency offers remaining that both individuals and organizations can take advantage of. It’s going to take all of us working together if Hawaii is to achieve its energy efficiency goals.”
Castle Medical Center hired Energy Industries, a local energy project developer, to install an energy management system integrating qualifying energy efficiency air conditioning and lighting systems. More specifically, two 450-ton water-cooled chillers were replaced with significantly more energy-efficient chillers, and the center’s aging cooling towers were replaced with two, 450-ton cooling towers. The medical center also replaced old lighting with energy-saving solutions.
“Generating savings through energy efficiency measures and bringing work to local companies were major goals of the recovery and reinvestment funds,” added Richard Lim, Director of DBEDT. “This project was definitely a win-win for the State of Hawaii and all involved.”
All together, the project will save Castle Medical Center an estimated 635,100 kilowatt hours (kWh) annually, which equates to $190,530 in savings based on $0.30 per kWh.
“Without the incentive funding, Castle Medical Center would not have been able to complete this project as soon as we did,” said Kathryn Raethel, President and CEO of Castle Medical Center. “The total cost of our project was $2.3 million. With the 25 percent incentive, we were able to make this happen before the end of 2011.”
The total incentive for the project was co-funded by ARRA ($527,069) and Public Benefits Fee Administrator ($120,568) funds for a total of $647,637. The funding was provided by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), State Energy Program (SEP) and Hawaii Energy (the energy conservation and efficiency program administered by SAIC under contract with the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission, serving the counties of Hawaii, Honolulu and Maui). Availability of ARRA funding ended on Dec. 31, 2011. Those eligible were government and non-profit organization energy efficiency projects that were not already ARRA funded.