Sophie Kiwala the MPP for Kingston and the Islands announced a substantial injection of money for Kingston General Hospital on Friday.
“Kingston Health Sciences Centre will receive $390,000 towards energy-efficient projects,” said Kiwala.
Some of the money is expected to be used to modernize the HVAC system.
Chris Rousseau is the plant services manager overseeing the project. He says the new system will do a better job controlling heating and cooling throughout the sprawling hospital.
Control technology will slow fans pumping the air to various areas when they aren’t in use, cutting the hospital’s electricity bill. These efficiencies are expected to save $78,000 a year.
That’s a conservative estimate based on past savings. Rousseau says a similar, but larger scale upgrade four years ago surpassed projected energy savings of $700,000.
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“We just did a measure on it in the last month and we’re generating well over $880,000 from that project.”
The savings will be reinvested into the hospital, specifically into patient care, says Dr. David Pichora, CEO for the Kingston Health Sciences Health Centre.
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“How this specific fund will get targeted I think remains to be determined but we’ve got lots of great places to use it,” Pichora said.
The money comes from the province’s cap-and-trade program — which has been used to establish a $64-million fund for health care.
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Kiwala says Kingston General Hospital is one of the dozens to benefit from the fund this year.
“Across the province there are 180 projects that are being delivered through 98 hospitals,” Kiwala said.
Preliminary work has already begun at KGH.
The HVAC improvements are expected to be complete by March.
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