MER
EnergySystems
88% of hospitals saw utility increases last year

Hospital energy optimization that respects 24/7 operations and patient safety.

Healthcare facilities face 1.5x the cross-industry rate of utility cost increases and can't use most of the efficiency levers office buildings rely on. MER delivers BMS optimization for NYC hospitals, surgery centers, and outpatient facilities that respects ASHRAE 170 minimums, patient safety constraints, and mandated operations, while still recovering meaningful cost savings and LL97 pathway relief.

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The healthcare cost squeeze in 2026
88%
of hospitals saw utility budget increases in the last year
1.5x
healthcare's differential over cross-industry cost increase rate
71%
of healthcare orgs cite budget accuracy as their top 2026 goal
Why healthcare is different

Most energy consultants can't work here.

Hospitals remove common efficiency levers that other industries rely on. That's why healthcare is both the hungriest for savings and the hardest sector to optimize.

24/7 operations

Ventilation, temperature, and air changes are mandated around the clock. You can't set back the ORs. You can't skip weekend cooling. Most operational efficiency levers available to office buildings are unavailable to you.

Mandated ventilation code

ASHRAE 170 minimums for OR, patient rooms, isolation rooms, imaging, and lab spaces set floors on outdoor air. Any BMS tuning has to respect those floors without exception.

Patient safety is existential

Reliability and infection control are non-negotiable. Setpoint changes that would be routine in an office building require careful sequencing, validation, and rollback plans in a hospital.

Extreme cost pressure

88% of hospitals saw utility increases last year. Healthcare orgs are nearly 50% more likely than other industries to report 10%+ cost spikes. Budget accuracy is the #1 stated goal for 71% of healthcare finance leads.

What we optimize within your constraints

Every lever respects code, load demand, and patient safety.

Steam plant optimization

Header pressure reset, staging, condensate return, trap survey, blowdown, deaerator, feedwater. Hospitals with functioning steam plants routinely leak 8-15% of gas through header overpressure and trap failure alone. All fixes respect load demand and reliability requirements.

Hot water plant reset

OAT-based HWS reset, preheat / reheat separation, pump VFD tuning, deadband analysis for fighting valves. Reset schedules tuned to actual load, not design overshoot. All within ASHRAE 170 supply air constraints.

Chilled water plant optimization

CHW setpoint reset, chiller staging, pump DP reset, primary-secondary loop decoupler behavior. Every 1°F increase in CHW supply that load allows is roughly 1.5% chiller kW reduction. Turndown limits often set decades ago don't match current low-load reality.

AHU static pressure reset

Trim-and-respond static pressure reset on VAV AHUs, economizer commissioning, minimum outdoor air validation. Static pressure alone is often 15-30% supply fan kW reduction. Every change validated against space pressurization and ACH requirements.

Central plant sequence audit

Chiller sequencing, boiler staging, cooling tower fan staging, condenser water reset. Legacy sequences programmed 10-15 years ago often no longer match building load profiles. Load-based sequencing captures the delta.

Credentials that matter for hospital work

Contractor. Operator. Independent engineer.

Fifteen years in automation. Ten years as a commercial BMS contractor, including large NYC medical and institutional facilities. Now independent engineer, licensed Refrigerating System Operating Engineer (RSOE), Certified Energy Manager (CEM), CMVP-certified, and actively operating plant at a large NYC surgery center. Three perspectives most consultants don't have, applied to a sector most consultants can't serve.

CEM + CMVP-certifiedRSOE with active plant operations experience10 yrs Alerton BMS hands-on, vendor-neutral spec + oversight for othersASHRAE 170 respected as hard floor on every recommendation
FAQ

Questions healthcare facility leads ask before they book.

Do you work with hospitals or only outpatient facilities?+
Both. MER works with acute-care hospitals, surgery centers, outpatient facilities, medical office buildings, and specialty facilities (imaging centers, ambulatory surgery, labs). Sweet spot is 25k sqft up. Portfolios welcome.
How do you handle mandated ventilation code (ASHRAE 170)?+
Every BMS tuning respects ASHRAE 170 minimums as hard floors. Nothing we recommend takes an OR, patient room, isolation room, imaging suite, or lab below its code-mandated air changes or outdoor air minimums. The savings come from schedules, setpoints, and reset strategies that were operating well above code, not from reducing ventilation.
How do you validate changes before implementation in a healthcare setting?+
Every setpoint or sequence change is proposed in writing before implementation. Changes are staged, sequenced, and validated against pre/post trend data over 30-90 days. Rollback plans are documented. If a change produces unexpected behavior in patient-facing spaces, we revert first and diagnose second.
Can this work coordinate with our existing controls contractor?+
Yes. MER is vendor-neutral. If you have an Alerton, Siemens, JCI, Honeywell, or Distech contractor already on-site, we work with them. For Alerton specifically, MER has 10 years of hands-on contractor-side experience and can implement directly if that's the preferred path. For other platforms, we spec the changes and oversee your contractor's implementation.
What credentials does MER hold that matter for hospital work?+
Certified Energy Manager (CEM). Certified Measurement and Verification Professional (CMVP). Refrigerating System Operating Engineer (RSOE) with hands-on plant operations experience. Fifteen years total in automation, ten of them as a commercial BMS contractor including large NYC medical and institutional facilities. Ongoing plant operator experience at a large NYC surgery center gives MER operator-side depth most consultants lack.
Do you handle LL97 for hospitals specifically?+
Yes. NYC hospitals face a somewhat different LL97 landscape than office buildings because Group 2 healthcare occupancy has different emissions caps. We model your specific pathway using property-use-weighted caps, apply beneficial electrification and DER credits where relevant, and coordinate with your compliance counsel on filing timing. LL97 penalty exposure planning is integrated into the Rapid Diagnostic and Annual Compliance Program.
What's the typical starting engagement?+
Free Building Cost + Compliance Call. Then either a $2,500 Rapid Diagnostic (site walk + BMS review + written roadmap, with 3x fee money-back guarantee) or a $2,500 BMS Health Check if the buildings systems are the primary concern. From there, most healthcare clients engage on one or more Plant Optimization Sprints (Steam, HW, CW, AHU, CHW) and an M&V Retainer.
How to start

Book your free 30-minute Building Cost + Compliance Call.

Tell us about your building. We pull your public LL84 benchmark data ahead of time and walk you through where your utility costs stand, your ESG position, your LL97 exposure through 2030, and the three most likely opportunities specific to your building type. No sales pressure.

Start the intake form
Pre-qualified
We only take on buildings we can help.
30 minutes
Focused. No pitch deck.
Live walkthrough
Your building's actual numbers.