County system cuts facility energy costs through partnership

Cook County Health in the Chicago area operates facilities with enormous energy demands. Ambitious sustainability goals included in Cook County’s Clean Energy Plan drove system leaders to recognize that energy infrastructure represented a major opportunity to improve efficiency, save costs and strengthen operational resilience.

The health system worked with real estate solutions firm JLL and local utility provider Peoples Gas to complete an on-site gas optimization study. Zac Hess, director of sustainable operations at JLL, notes that the utility funded the investigation to identify opportunities for both immediate and long-term improvements.

Among the earliest initiatives was a pipe insulation project completed in 2023. The $156,707 project cost was fully covered through a Peoples Gas incentive and now delivers approximately 44,000 therms in annual savings, equating to roughly $33,825 in yearly cost reductions.

Another initiative focused on recommissioning a condensing economizer that had originally been installed in 2015.

“The $315,000 project cost was fully covered by the Peoples Gas rebate, and we’re seeing annual savings of 145,175 therms, more than 50% higher than originally estimated,” Hess says. “This reduces the facility’s overall gas usage by 4.5%.”

Implementation required careful coordination between teams to avoid disrupting patient care. One repair project required a 12-hour hot water shutdown, which was scheduled overnight and over a weekend to limit the impact on clinical services.

Internal stakeholder alignment also played an important role in moving projects forward. Hess noted that Cook County Health’s chief engineer of the powerhouse and chief facilities officer worked closely together with JLL’s sustainable operations team throughout the process. Peoples Gas ultimately presented findings and proposed opportunities directly to system stakeholders for review and approval.

The broader initiative has generated substantial benefits. Rebates from local electricity utility provider Commonwealth Edison Co. totaling $125,000 helped Cook County Health achieve approximately $167,000 in annual electrical energy savings through various efficiency improvements. Additional operational improvements also created more consistent heating and cooling conditions throughout facilities.

Phase 2 will focus on leveraging recovered heat for additional building systems and expanding efficiency gains across the portfolio.