PSE&G And RWJUH Rahway Mark Completion Of $3.4 Million In Energy Efficiency Upgrades

On Jun 2, 2015

Public Service Electric and Gas Company (PSE&G) and Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital Rahway today marked the completion of $3.4 million in energy efficiency improvements that will save the acute care hospital more than $300,000 annually in energy costs.

The work was completed through the PSE&G Hospital Efficiency Program, a $174 million effort by New Jersey’s oldest and largest gas and electric utility that will help more than 40 hospitals to better manage their energy consumption.

“Hospitals like RWJ Rahway anchor their communities and are a vital resource for the residents they serve,” said Joe Forline, vice president – customer solutions, PSE&G.  “Because of the crucial role they play, the benefits of making hospitals stronger by making them more  energy efficient extends far beyond just electric and gas savings.”

The energy efficiency work is part of a multi-year renovation at RWJ Rahway that includes a newly redesigned main entrance and lobby, a renovated Critical Care Unit, and the new Center for Ambulatory Medicine, which includes the Center for Wound Healing and Hyperbaric Medicine, Diabetes Counseling and Weight Management, Neuropathy Clinic, physician offices and other services. Currently under renovation are diagnostic services such as radiology, laboratory and cardiac stress testing, as well as patient rooms.

The energy efficiency improvements at RWJ Rahway include a major upgrade to the hospital’s air conditioning chiller plant, the installation of energy efficient lighting fixtures, the replacement of old, inefficient motors with new energy efficient models and the retrofitting of existing heating boilers with new energy efficient burners.

“For almost 100 years, this hospital has provided critical medical services to the people in this region,” said RWJ Rahway President and CEO Kirk Tice.  “The energy efficiency improvements made possible through the PSE&G program will not only help us use energy more efficiently, it will also save us hundreds of thousands of dollars annually in energy costs, and greatly improve the infrastructure that we rely on for the comfort and convenience of patients, visitors and staff.”

The energy efficiency work at RWJ Rahway will save more than two million kilowatt-hours of electricity and 19,000 therms of natural gas annually. That is enough electricity to power about 275 homes for a year and enough natural gas to supply about 20 homes for a year.

The PSE&G Hospital Efficiency Program targets hospitals and healthcare facilities located in PSE&G’s electric and/or gas service territory.  Through the program, PSE&G provides an audit at no cost to the hospital, then proposes various cost effective energy conservation measures that will make substantial improvements in the hospital’s efficient use of energy.  The program greatly reduces the financial burden on a hospital by providing up-front funding for the total cost of a project.  The hospital then pays back a portion of the total project cost over 5 years.  Work is complete at 33 hospitals to date and a recent $45 million extension to the program will allow PSE&G to address the approximately 12 hospitals currently on the waiting list.

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