July 23, 2008 - Healthcare executives place a higher priority on energy efficiency than executives in other industries, planning more facility upgrades over the next year than any other sector, according to a pair of new studies from Johnson Controls. The surveys, which polled 335 energy executives in the healthcare industry and 1150 executives in other industries, report that 65% of the healthcare industry consider energy efficiency "extremely important" or "very important," as opposed to only 57% of respondents from other industries. Sixty-seven percent of healthcare organizations are also more likely to invest in energy efficiency measures this year, compared to 56% of other industries.

And while companies in other industries are willing to wait an average 3.6 years for return on their investment, healthcare organizations are willing to wait up to 4.2 years for their ROI. The reason? Chalk it up to the soaring price of energy. Fifty-nine percent of respondents say that the need to control costs is a greater motivator than environmental responsibility.

"It takes a lot of energy to run a hospital," explains Dale Woodin, executive director of the American Society for Healthcare Engineering. "As healthcare organizations look for ways to control costs and improve patient care, they are engineering energy efficient solutions that will pay off handsomely in three or four years."

On average, healthcare organizations will spend 8% of their capital budgets and 6% of their operating budgets to conserve energy over the coming year, the surveys show. Typical energy efficiency include:

Building management systems - installing, updating or improving (88%) Energy efficient lighting (87%) Variable speed/frequency drives (67%) Lighting sensors so lights come on and off as needed (56%) Adjusting time that heating/AC runs (55%) Negotiated energy contracts with suppliers (52%)

Yet while the healthcare sector is leading the way on energy efficiency, it lags behind other industries in the push for adopting renewable energy technologies, the surveys suggest. Sixty-eight percent of respondents from other industries have invested in renewable technologies, while only 38% of healthcare organizations report the same interest.

"We live in an age of rising energy prices and growing environmental consciousness," says Clay Nesler, vice president of global energy and sustainability, Johnson Controls. "All industries are investing more aggressively to control energy costs and improve their sustainability. We believe this is a long term trend."