UCI Health previews an all-electric hospital set to open in 2025
Before plans were developed for an acute medical center at UC Irvine in 2019, the team behind it already knew they wanted to make the new hospital all-electric, according to Joe Brothman, director of facilities and general services at UCI Health.
“We have solid sustainability and energy saving goals set by both UCI Health and the University of California system. We’re trying to achieve our own set goals and be a progressive organization,” Brothman said. “Overall, hospitals and healthcare as a whole are very large contributors to greenhouse gas emissions because our operations are very energy intensive.
“Operating theaters and medical facilities themselves are typically operational 24 hours a day, 365 days a year due to their regulatory requirements,” he continued. “They use a lot of energy and resources and as an industry we need to recognize that and find ways to reduce that as we are an industry that is concerned with healing people.
“If our operations contribute to negative health externalities, particularly disproportionately in underserved populations that have a history of negative health impacts due to energy, we are not fulfilling our mission.”
The CUP, Central Utility Plant, at the UCI Medical Center Irvine-Newport Acute Hospital will use state-of-the-art “chillers” to cool and heat the structure. No natural gas will be used as electricity and solar energy will provide all of the hospital’s energy needs.
(Scott Smeltzer / Staff Photographer)
The 144-bed hospital, which broke ground in November 2021, will be part of a $1.3 billion medical complex for the university. The university said it is likely the first all-electric center of its kind in the country.
The UCI Medical Center Irvine-Newport is also expected to include an outpatient advanced care center, a children’s health center and the Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center and Ambulatory Care Building, with the advanced care center expected to be the first of the upcoming buildings as soon as next spring on-line. This will be the second major medical campus in the UC Irvine system after the first was built in Orange.
In a statement released at the groundbreaking ceremony for the medical complex, UCI Health Chief Executive Officer Chad Lefteris described UCI Medical Center Irvine-Newport as “building the next chapter in healthcare delivery in Orange County.
“The new UCI Medical Center — Irvine will be a full-service academic medical complex bringing a wide array of the most advanced healthcare services to the Coast and South of Orange County, including access to hundreds of clinical trials being conducted at UCI Health walk,” Lefteris explained.
Media representatives had the opportunity on Friday to take a look at the 350,000 square meter center, which is expected to start operations in 2025.
The CUP, Central Utility Plant, state-of-the-art ‘chillers’ are used to cool the acute care hospital at the UCI Medical Center Irvine-Newport.
(Scott Smeltzer / Staff Photographer)
In terms of internal infrastructure, the hospital is very different from the more traditionally built Orange facility, Brothman said. The hospital and outpatient care center are powered by an Essential Utilities facility that does not rely on carbon combustion or natural gas.
Brothman noted that the hospital will have diesel generators to back up in the event of a power outage, but the goal is for day-to-day operations to be fully electric.
“Because our healthcare system can buy electricity on the free market, we buy 100% sustainably produced electricity. Operations at our Irvine campus will be among the greenest known in terms of the greenest energy portfolio, particularly for an academic medical center of this size and complexity,” said Brothman.
He added that central utilities will use “a smattering” of different technologies that simultaneously produce chilled water and hot water to heat and cool the building, while also producing steam for humidification and cleaning. This is usually done with a large, central boiler, but Brothman said the hospital will deploy multiple small steam boilers at the point of use.
Construction crews work at the UCI Medical Center Irvine-Newport on Friday.
(Scott Smeltzer / Staff Photographer)
“It won’t be a cased steam line going around our campus; That means that during an earthquake or construction, there’s no risk that a steam line will rupture and our heating, cooling or cleaning can no longer perform that vital function,” he said, describing the system as built-in resilience. “When all other buildings are gone, it usually happens during a major disaster.”
In addition, from a purely financial point of view, by switching to electricity, the hospital will be independent of possible changes in natural gas costs.
“It’s a way for us to hedge our bets… we’re not tied to energy prices, which are totally out of our control. Overall, we’re going to try to reduce those costs as much as possible for our patients and the people we care for,” Brothman said. “We see in the future that we can’t control these factors like natural gas prices outside of our control, but we can may choose to use electricity and buy electricity on the free market.”
While full electrification of their other carbon-using facilities is still a long way off, Brothman said there is a team with UCI Health that is actively exploring opportunities for the switch in existing buildings, including their Orange campus.
Construction crews work at the UCI Medical Center Irvine-Newport hospital on Friday.
(Scott Smeltzer / Staff Photographer)
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