Hospitals and healthcare centers must maintain safe, comfortable, and efficient environments for patients, staff, and visitors — no small feat given the complexity of modern facilities. This includes everything from keeping lights on and spaces clean to more nuanced priorities. For example, while increasing daylighting can improve patient recovery and morale, it can also increase solar heat gain, in turn potentially straining cooling systems. Similarly, facilities must meet stringent air exchange rate requirements while adapting to telehealth, which might shift occupancy dynamics.

Energy management is a critical challenge in healthcare, especially with U.S. electricity costs outpacing inflation. Hospitals, among the most energy-intensive building types, have site energy use intensity (EUI) levels more than four times higher than typical commercial office buildings. Beyond baseline building operations, healthcare facilities depend on uninterrupted power for energy-intensive medical technologies like CT scanners, MRI machines, and nuclear medicine rooms.

Sustainability is becoming a top priority in healthcare, with many organizations actively working toward decarbonization and cleaner energy use. As of 2024, roughly 1,200 U.S. hospitals had pledged to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 50% by 2030 and achieve net-zero emissions by 2025. These efforts not only align with global climate goals but also support healthier communities by reducing pollution and waste.

With stronger and more-frequent natural disasters, hospital resilience has big implications for facilities planning and management. More than ever, it’s critical to ensure healthcare facilities have robust backup power to support life-saving care during grid outages.

Energy costs can have an outsized impact on healthcare facilities' financial stability. With rising healthcare costs overall, pressure is mounting to improve operational efficiency while maintaining a high standard of care.