German people are currently paying a high price for their health: last year, healthcare expenditures amounted to €411 billion. That’s 11.9 percent of GDP and €4,944 per capita. Understandably, hospital managers and healthcare policymakers are constantly looking for areas where savings can be made. However, all stakeholders agree on one point: not at the expense of quality! And also not at the expense of salaries; on the contrary, chronically overworked nurses have been demanding better pay for years. Alternative solutions must be found—and fortunately, they exist.
Healthcare properties like hospitals (as well as care facilities) often have high energy consumption, especially for hot water. To eliminate any risk of life-threatening Legionella bacteria developing in the system, water is heated to 80 degrees Celsius. Unfortunately, this frequently results in the entire system being unnecessarily operated at this temperature. These elevated system temperatures reduce equipment efficiency while increasing distribution losses, heating costs, and emissions. Millions of euros are wasted annually—funds that could otherwise be used to care for patients or pay nurses. Moreover, the environment would benefit from eliminating these avoidable emissions. The good news is that proper system configuration often enables quick and straightforward improvements. However, many facility operators lack the right tools for managing building technology efficiently.
Another challenge in hospitals is their complexity: many facilities have evolved over decades. Their technical systems are often disorganized, with insufficient documentation. Yet, the more complex a building’s systems and the more parameters that can be adjusted, the more critical it becomes to ensure that all components are harmonized. This requires a comprehensive analysis to collect the correct data and evaluate it intelligently. Once this is done, it becomes possible to identify optimization potentials using smart tools and to develop appropriate solutions.
Care homes also offer significant room for improvement. However, a particular characteristic of this sector often stands in the way: in care facilities, system operation and maintenance are frequently tied to supply contracts. Significant energy savings could be achieved by optimizing system controls, but energy suppliers often lack the incentive to do so, as this would reduce their revenue. By consulting efficiency experts, care homes could quickly address these issues, for example, through certified technical monitoring of their systems.
This approach could provide a bridge for hospital and care home operators compared to other types of property: their management teams are well-versed in certified processes and appreciate their value. To make these technical certifications understandable and useful for financial and legal professionals, compact guides and performance outlines are now available, such as Guidebook 29 from the European HVAC association REHVA or AMEV Recommendation 158 for technical monitoring by the German Ministry of Construction.
