At Legacy Health, creating a healthy environment for patients is a top priority. Energy management has been an ongoing part of that mission. Legacy enrolled in Energy Trust’s commercial Strategic Energy Management initiative to manage energy use and develop a system-wide energy policy.

“SEM provided the structure, methodology and discipline needed to achieve buy-in across our culture,” said Pat Lydon, sustainability program manager.

Energy Trust experts and Legacy’s facility services manager made a list of potential energy-saving improvements for the organization’s six hospitals, and Legacy implemented a long-term energy policy and set energy reduction goals for the next five years. Energy Trust kept in close contact over three years―providing recommendations and tools for Legacy to use when making low-cost and no-cost changes to save energy.

After three years, SEM has helped Legacy save approximately 157,000 therms and 2.5 million kilowatt hours. The savings add up to approximately $344,000 in energy costs. Energy Trust contributed $88,150 in incentives to help with the improvements.