The Situation

Brookdale Senior Living, the largest senior housing provider in the country, made a major commitment to reduce energy use and enhance occupant comfort at many of their communities throughout the US. Nexant worked collaboratively with Brookdale to retrocommission more than 82 communities within an aggressive 5-month schedule. To reduce the portfolio energy usage of the major HVAC systems, Nexant identified and implemented cost effective ways to save energy and maintain or improve occupant comfort at all 82 senior living/skilled nursing facilities within 5 months. Due to the diverse nature of the building portfolio (size, location, and system types), Brookdale requested a summary of existing building systems, an energy use analysis, facility benchmarks, and recommendations for corrective actions at each facility.

Overcoming Barriers

To meet the aggressive schedule, Nexant took a streamlined approach to achieve the maximum benefit in minimal time:

• Utilized our national team, located across 7 different offices, to minimize travel time and associated costs
• Corrected on site deficiencies immediately with our “find and fix” approach (where possible)
• Completed small facilities without sophisticated control systems within a single site visit
• Took a more traditional, multi-step approach for larger facilities with building automation systems
• Focused on low cost measures, but also identified capital investment opportunities
• Utilized seamless project coordination and communication to complete all projects in the requested time frame

On-time Delivery

All projects at the 82 communities were completed in the requested time frame with seamless project coordination and communication. Some recommendations were even implemented immediately while we were on site.

• National team coordination delivered a consistent, high-quality product to Brookdale
• Consistent recommendations led to uniform project implementation, equipment consistency, and better pricing by contracting multiple sites
• Nexant provided practical recommendations with clear instructions for implementation

Benefits

Benefits to customers included:

• Reduced energy usage and cost
• Improved comfort
• Reduced maintenance
• Lower vacancy rates
• Higher employee productivity
• Engagement and education of local staff

Proven Results

Overall savings from implementation of recommended ECMs:

6.3% of total energy use

Overall payback period of ECMs:

2.4 years (60% of projects under 2-year simple payback)

“Thank you for showing me which HVAC systems serve which rooms and setting the corresponding thermostats. That has made it so much easier to keep the building temperatures comfortable.” – Dan Gard Maintenance Director Brookdale Missoula Valley 

About Brookdale

Brookdale Senior Living is the largest owner and operator of senior living communities throughout the U.S., operating over 1,100 senior living communities and retirement communities in the US.