By Fay Harvey
ALBANY, N.Y. — Funding from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) will soon support energy-efficient upgrades at hospitals across the state.
Through NYSERDA’s “Empire Building Challenge: Hospitals” program, a $30 million fund will help hospitals make innovative, energy-saving investments through electrification retrofits. With new upgrades, hospitals will see lower operating costs and reduced emissions.
“Hospitals are the cornerstones of our communities,” said Gov. Hochul in a statement. “This investment will drive efforts to make them cleaner, more efficient and safer for healthcare workers, patients and visitors as we work to electrify this critical sector of our economy.”
Up to $5 million will be awarded to selected eligible hospitals to construct and install scalable and efficient low-carbon solutions, with funding capped at 75% of the total project cost. The funding will apply to renovations related to the electrification of building and heating systems through technology such as heat pumps and thermal energy. It will also support building electrification readiness projects that reduce buildings’ thermal demand as well as comprehensive energy efficient improvements to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and overall building workload.
Contingent activities such as energy-efficient medical equipment upgrades, improvements to existing electric infrastructure and the installation of energy storage systems can only be completed in tandem with a funding-eligible project. Upgrades to lighting, clean transportation, expansion projects and system conversions will not be eligible for funding.
“Hospital facilities are critical to providing healthcare services to our local communities in New York State,” said state Sen. Kevin Parker in a statement. “As we decarbonize our economy, we must support critical facilities as they transition to clean energy solutions and make sure our building systems are contributing to the health and environment for all New Yorkers.”
New York’s licensed, existing inpatient hospitals that have an emphasis on delivering acute, short-term medical and surgical care—including treatment, diagnosis and inpatient housing—are all eligible for funding, with hospitals in disadvantaged communities to receive priority selection. Applicants are also eligible for up to $50,000 to support integration and training of new systems, with funding based on number of trainees and operators. Proposals are due on Aug. 14 by 3 p.m. ET.
The “Empire Building Challenge: Hospitals” program is an extension of New York’s $50 million “Empire Building Challenge” which launched and 2020 to support low-carbon retrofit applications for existing large buildings in the state. Since its launch, NYSERDA and real estate owners have acquired more than $140 million in private investment from real estate partners who have pledged to lower carbon emissions across more than 128 million square feet of commercial and multifamily real estate, advancing the state’s goal of achieving an emissions-free economy by 2050.
