POWERGRAMS

PAG E 5 INNOVATION Reliable power keeps the lights on. It also keeps people alive. Children's of Alabama is one of the top-rated pediatric hospitals in the nation. It specializes in treating children who need the most advanced and aggressive care such as heart-lung transplants and chemotherapy. Alabama Power works closely with Children's in Birmingham and many other hospitals to minimize power outages that could affect care and treatment. "We have been very blessed with reliable and good power for many, many years," said Bob Crumpton, divisional director of engineering for Children's. "In 34-plus years, I can count on one hand the number of times we've lost power for any length of time, due to either a disaster or some type of malfunction with an Alabama Power system. It's an excellent track record." At 2 million square feet, Children's is the third-largest pediatric facility in the nation. Hospitals typically use three to four times more power per square foot than an average commercial space. "There's a huge amount of technology that has to be in each patient room," said Mike McDevitt, executive vice president of facilities at Children's. "You have to have all the utility systems necessary to keep that functioning." Building redundancies into the electric system is critical. That is the purpose of Alabama Power's new underground "loop" project started in 2012 and scheduled for completion in December. It will enable Children's facilities, including the Benjamin Russell Hospital for Children and the McWane Hospital, to switch to another power source if the main substation fails. The backup capabilities will benefit other downtown Birmingham health facilities, including the Veterans Affairs Medical Center, University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) North Pavilion Hospital, and UAB's Women and Infants Hospital. "This system gives us the ability to reduce outage times from several hours or days to minutes during major storm events," said Brian Lett, Alabama Power Commercial Accounts manager and the company's liaison with Children's. "As far as we know, it's the first of its kind in the country. It's a big deal." Alabama Power is working to improve backup capabilities at other Birmingham- area health facilities. "Princeton Baptist Medical Center has above-ground line service, but we've installed an automated overhead scheme to further improve service reliability," said Lett. "We have a good working relationship with Alabama Power, absolutely," said Princeton Baptist Operations Manager Shane Grayson. "They've been very reliable." "I've had two large outages since I've been here," added Grayson, who began working at the hospital as a contractor 17 years ago. "Alabama Power responded within 20 to 30 minutes. They had my secondary feed available, which allowed us to switch off of generator and back to Alabama Power as the electric source. We were up and running within hours." Grayson said the automated switches mean there's no waiting for a line crew to repair an outage, saving precious minutes. "It's a very important deal," he said. "We're healthcare. We can't afford big outages or long outages. Anything more than an hour or two and we're in a bad bind here." It's not just the quantity of power that matters, but the quality. Alabama Power works to refine that quality so hospitals can improve their efficiency. "They lowered harmonics in the system, which is basically distortion, and so the quality of power has gone up," said Crumpton. As efficiency is increased and energy is conserved, the savings can be dedicated to patient care. For example, Alabama Power representatives worked with Children's to install a heat recovery "chiller" – one of the most efficient technologies in use – at the Russell building. It frees the hospital from having to fire the natural gas boilers to heat water. Alabama Power is in discussions with Brookwood Medical Center and Princeton Baptist about installing heat recovery chillers. Another advancement is LED lighting, which uses about two-thirds less energy than older lighting systems. Lett said Alabama Power is setting up a business unit to offer LED lighting to customers. Grayson, for one, has been impressed with the LED technology. "We've already re-lamped our parking lots and some of our main hallways," he said. "It could be a very substantial power savings." Children's and Princeton Baptist are great role models for energy efficiency. The Benjamin Russell Hospital is the first healthcare facility in Alabama, and one of the first of its kind in the nation, to be LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Gold certified. The LEED certification recognizes sustainable "green" design that is energy- efficient and environmentally responsible. And thanks to automated power cutoffs and a unique outside air cooling system, Princeton Baptist uses about the same amount of energy as a health facility three- quarters of its size. Lett said Alabama Power will continue to cultivate close relationships with the state's healthcare centers and look for opportunities to help them upgrade their facilities. "Communication and coordination are everything," he said. "Lives depend on it." By John Herr 5 Powering Pediatrics U N I Q U E BAC KU P SYS T E M K EEPS L I G H TS O N AT C H I L D R EN 'S Hospitals require three to four times more elctricity than average businesses. Photo cortesy of Children's of Alabama

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