Alberta Health Services is shining a light on energy conservation through a large-scale conversion to LED lights in its parkades throughout Alberta. The first phase which was completed at 13 parkades in Calgary and Red Deer in 2016 has reduced electricity costs by $245,000/year and reduced GHG emissions by 1,804 tonnes CO2e annually. The second phase involving 9 parkades in Grande Prairie, Edmonton and Lethbridge was completed in July 2018. Post retrofit measurements are being completed to verify savings. All AHS parkades are now lit with LED lighting.
AHS has reduced the electricity and natural gas use in a number of their hospitals, clinics and office buildings by replacing outdated pneumatic controls with digital which improve comfort conditions but also reduce energy use through better controls and disabling air systems when the space is unoccupied. They have also improved the efficiency of primary building equipment like boilers, chillers and ventilation systems through system upgrades and recommissioning. AHS created a cross-departmental environmental sustainability team tasked with initiating corporate-wide initiatives with leadership provided by the organization’s Chief Financial Officer as the lead sponsor.