By Dan Hounsell

Front-line maintenance technicians play an essential role in ensuring that key systems in healthcare facilities — especially HVAC systems — operate safety and reliability. Increasingly, organizations also are tapping into the skills and experience of these workers to address energy efficiency issues.

Conditioned air and water transported throughout a campus are the primary drivers for energy consumption in hospitals. If mechanics and technicians are trained on the concepts of energy-efficient operations, as well as the technologies installed to automate optimization, they are able to operate their buildings and resolve issues in the most energy-efficient way, according to Health Facilities Management.

Consider the efforts of Atrium Health, which partnered with the University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNCC) to develop an innovative training program for its mechanics. Faculty and researchers at UNCC worked with Atrium Health to develop a program called Energy Connect focused on teaching mechanics about energy troubleshooting. Mechanics familiar with troubleshooting problems in a faulty piece of equipment were taught how to spot energy inefficiencies in system operations.