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[B E Y O N D T H E S C O P E ]

Healthy Building in an Ill EconomyIn a time when both individuals and businesses are frightened by the economic decline, the healthcare industry is discovering that while it’s not immune to the downturn, it will be hurting less than other industries. And with healthcare reform rising to the top of the political agenda, in the years to come there may even be fewer uninsured patients and, therefore, more hospital bills paid.

The national crusade to find a cure for cancer is motivating investors to place more funding into cancer research. These dollars translate into the construction of new cancer research and treatment facilities across the nation.

In order to stay competitive and relevant to patients and staff, hospitals should consider all catalysts of change in the industry. Read more about what’s motivating change in the healthcare sector and hospital design on page 9.

Burns & McDonnell can make building in today’s economymore affordable through energy efficiency and sustainable design. On page 15, read about how Shands Cancer Center saves significant energy costs with its new on-site CHP plant.

Let’s work together to stimulate the economy, as we continue the forward momentum of healthcare.

Rick KeelerVice President and General ManagerHealthcare & Research Facilities Group

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[C O N T E N T S ]

Water, Water, EverywhereFocus on Water Is More Than a Workday Obsession

Leon Staab thinks about water all day, even after he leaves the office.

5 Just Passing ThroughOpen Road Tolling Opens Up Traffic in Chicago

Commuters are saving an average of 10 minutes of commute time each way.

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Healthcare’s Vital SignsEffective Design for the Pulse of Patient Care

Design in the healthcare industry is changing in the midst of an economic downturn.

9 Increasing Efficiency and ReliabilityCombined Heat and Power Reduces Environmental Impacts

A Florida hospital can now focus on patient care, even during a natural disaster.

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[ I N A D D I T I O N ]

3 Start Up Tech Q&AHow It WorksSafety CornerNews in Brief

17 Need to Know Funds for Food-Processing

Facilities

13 Project RoundupWindSpeed: Clean Power, Fast Readiness Within a BudgetFacilities for the Big Red One

18 OfflineWalking the Line

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What’s Sustainable?Sustainability permeates everything we do today — at work, at home, on our commutes. At Burns & McDonnell, we understand that sustainability is important to you, our clients and partners. That’s why, beginning with this

issue of BenchMark, we’re making it easier for you to find how sustainability impacts every topic we write about. Look for the leaf icon throughout the publication to see how our work is contributing to sustainability on all fronts.

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[S TA R T U P ]

Technical Q&A: Emissions Regulation

How It Works Near Real-Time Tracking of Rainfall in Florida’s Everglades

A: After throwing out the original Clean Air Interstate Rule (CAIR) in July 2008 — only six months before it was slated to take effect

— the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia decided in December 2008 to instead remand the case back to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency without vacatur. CAIR requires 28 states to reduce levels of NOx and SO2 under a system of cap-and-trade provisions.

As when CAIR was originally tossed, there may be some uncertainties regarding the future and how emissions-reduction projects should proceed. While the court maintains its position that the rule is flawed, the EPA has

Every 15 minutes, the South Florida Water Management District receives massive amounts of data from more than 33,000 virtual gauges that track rainfall from Orlando, Fla., to the Florida Keys. The gauges relay the rain totals to the

district’s information system, and officials use the data to make real-time decisions about flood control measures in the Everglades and management of the region’s water resources.

But there was just too much data for efficient analysis. District officials turned to Burns & McDonnell to convert the rainfall data to a visible format that would help enable key decisions.

Officials could view static images but wanted to see the information over time, similar to a Doppler radar weather animation.

“Our experience using Google Earth™ Enterprise to create OneTouchPM™, our software tool that tracks real-time progress on construction projects, provided a base of understanding that applied here,” says Wes Hardin, Burns & McDonnell project

manager. “By using the same type of Feature Manipulation Engine translations to extract information from the district’s database, we knew we would be able to create a near real-time animation of the rainfall across Florida.”

Hardin’s team matched rain gauge data locations with Google Earth™ geospatial data to create the color animation. Team member Ryan Boyce also wrote a program to update rainfall totals every 15 minutes and provide accumulation totals for periods ranging from six hours to 30 days, expanding the utility of the tool as a base for key decisions.

After seven months, Burns & McDonnell completed the project — a bit of a surprise to district officials. “They told us after the fact, they didn’t think we could do it,” Hardin says.

For more information, contact Wes Hardin, 816-822-4361.

advised that the original CAIR program is still in effect until the EPA modifies the rule per the court’s July 2008 opinion.

In turn, the NOx State Implementation Plan (SIP) Call has expired with the start of the CAIR NOx program.

Fortunately, the approach taken by many Burns & McDonnell clients, and which we recommend, has been to continue with original plans to comply with CAIR. Those plans could include new, upgraded or modified air pollution control equipment, or intentions to buy or sell emissions credits.

For more information, contact Karen Burchardt, 816-822-3430.

Q: How does the newest ruling on the Clean Air Interstate Rule affect how I should proceed with emissions-reduction projects?

Red indicates areas of dense rainfall in 6-hour increments at the 33,773 virtual rain gauges across southern Florida on March 19, 2009.

Karen Burchardt is a senior environmental engineer with experience in feasibility assessments and cost estimates for multi-pollutant control technologies. She has conducted studies to evaluate potential regulatory scenarios and the costs and feasibility of compliance.

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Safety CornerNew Safety & Health Director Pegs Communication as the Best Safety Tool

Burns & McDonnell has always maintained a high standard for safety and health, and Robert Coker, the new director of Corporate Safety & Health at Burns & McDonnell, is ready to implement his vision on how to strengthen it further.

“My role is to take safety and health performance to the next level and higher, making it a strategic asset that not only protects our employee-owners and contract associates but also delivers greater business value. The management system approach is preventative versus reactive,” says Coker, a central Texas native. “I plan to tap into existing resources to build a safety toolbox to achieve that goal, and communication is one of the most important tools we have. We can learn from each others’ experiences, no matter which global practice we represent.”

Coker leads all Burns & McDonnell groups involved with the company’s safety and health program in the office and in the field. Before

joining the company, he spent 18 years in environmental health and safety (EH&S) positions with Alcoa, and three years with Toyota in San Antonio. Most recently, he was the director of global EH&S for SPX Cooling Technologies (Marley) in Overland Park, Kan.

“My approach is to manage safety and health with my wife, Tracy, and three children in mind,” Coker says. “If I wouldn’t feel comfortable putting my most precious assets in a given situation, then it’s not safe enough for Burns & McDonnell employee-owners or contract associates.”

For more information, contact Robert Coker, 816-822-4207.

News in Brief

World Headquarters Building Receives Energy Star LabelThe Burns & McDonnell World Headquarters building in Kansas City, Mo., recently received an Energy Star label of 85 from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The Energy Star label places the firm’s world headquarters among the top 15 percent of facilities nationwide for energy performance. Commercial buildings that have earned the Energy Star label use, on average, 35 percent less energy than typical similar buildings and generate one-third less carbon dioxide.

Burns & McDonnell Wins Contract for Naval ShipyardThe Naval Facilities Engineering Command Mid-Atlantic recently selected Burns & McDonnell to provide engineering and design services for the installation of a

controlled industrial facility at the Norfolk Naval Shipyard in Portsmouth, Va. The $40 million facility will be built to support nuclear-powered aircraft carriers ported in Norfolk. Burns & McDonnell provides specialized expertise from planning through commissioning and operations to handle the project’s rigorous Naval controls and requirements for safety, security, coatings, containment, material handling and processes.

Biomass Generation Facilities Planned in GeorgiaBurns & McDonnell is assisting Oglethorpe Power Cooperative in Tucker, Ga., with the initial development phases for two carbon-neutral, 100-MW electrical generating facilities to be fueled by a woody biomass mixture. The high-capacity intermediate power generation plants will

be steam-electric generating stations using conventional fluidized bed boiler/steam turbine technology. The woody biomass fuel for the plants will include processed roundwood, primary manufacturing residue and harvest residue. The plants will be designed to allow for the co-firing of other types of biomass, such as pecan hulls and peanut shells. The alternatives report for the projects, to be sited in east central Georgia, was submitted to the Rural Utilities Service in February. Burns & McDonnell will provide technical support to Oglethorpe in the next phases, including the scoping meeting and preparation of an environmental impact statement. The Burns & McDonnell Atlanta office is providing permitting services.

For more information about Burns & McDonnell, visit www.burnsmcd.com/news.

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Water, Water, Everywhere

Leon Staab’s Focus on Water is More Than a Workday Obsession

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As the chief stormwater engineer for Burns & McDonnell, Leon Staab never quite dries off.

He thinks about water all day at work, and often even after he leaves the office. After a downpour, he likes to visit his projects to check how they’re working. His wife, Pam, gives him trouble for pointing out watercourses during family driving vacations, but he contends that such curiosity goes with the turf.

“I tell the younger staff, ‘If you’re going to be good engineers, you have to pay attention to where water goes when it rains, and how water moves on the streets.’”

Staab remembers becoming aware of water as a boy growing up in Great Bend, Kan., and visiting his grandfather’s farm near Hays, Kan.

“The amount of water available was always on my grandfather’s and uncles’ minds,” he says. They drank from a well and were quite conscious of the runoff from a nearby cattle ranch.

A few years later at the University of Kansas, he initially majored in aerospace engineering, but then shifted to civil engineering, which introduced him to the dynamics of water. A different medium, he notes, but one with the same emphasis on how things flow.

Although stormwater engineering typically focuses on controlling the amount and movement of water, the issue of water quality has gained importance.

“People want clean water,” Staab says. And that desire has nudged many local governments to adopt measures requiring developers to minimize runoff and other potentially damaging consequences of excavation and construction.

Nothing NewMany of Staab’s clients have been looking at water for a long time. Since 1997, he’s been the district engineer for the North Kansas City, Mo., Levee District. Burns & McDonnell has served the district in that role since 1969.

He’s working on the eight miles of levees that help protect North Kansas City and the Charles B. Wheeler Downtown Airport from flooding on the Missouri River. Staab must sign off on any proposed development within 500 feet of the levee.

Richard Lanning, president of the district’s Board of Supervisors, lauded Staab “first and foremost for his technical background. I rely on him heavily. Leon is a good communicator and works well with people.”

The Next PhaseStaab is also supervising the design of a new storm sewer interceptor to carry rainwater from the flood-prone Brookside neighborhood in Kansas City, Mo. The plan should be completed in 2009 and is part of a major watershed improvement plan designed by the Watershed Services Group at Burns & McDonnell.

Staab and his colleagues have designed and implemented engineering solutions that optimize water quality at the company headquarters campus in Kansas City. A series of bioretention ponds and swales, planted with water-loving species, collect polluted runoff from company parking lots and part of the roof. The water is filtered naturally before being discharged into the stormwater system.

Some of those features likely will be incorporated into the Brookside project.

He’s also developed about 20 stormwater management plans for municipalities around the region, examining how existing systems are working and how they might be improved.

Andy Haney, public works director for Ottawa, Kan., says the study Staab completed for the city in 2007 provided hard data on which his department can base development decisions.

“We always talked about stormwater impacts,” Haney says, “but we had nothing quantitative we could rely on.” Staab put an end to the guesswork.

The Big PictureTwenty years on the job have enhanced Staab’s awareness of his impact on the world.

“The older I get, the more I become an environmental steward and worry about water quality and conservation. As the population grows, one of the biggest problems is that we will run out of clean water sources. We are using water at a tremendous rate, and it’s not inexhaustible.”

Leon Staab and his colleagues designed a series of stormwater solutions at the Burns & McDonnell world headquarters campus

that will serve as a pilot program for client initiatives.

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[F E AT U R E ]

Insert text here ...Just Passing ThroughThe conversion to an Open Road Tolling (ORT) system has eased traffic congestion in Chicago.

Area commuters report an average time savings of 10 minutes each way — the result of time not spent in congested traffic or slowing down to pay tolls. Approximately 80 percent of daily drivers now use I-PASS to pay their tolls, among the highest use rate of U.S. tollways.

The ORT system, part of the Tollway’s 10-year, $5.3 billion congestion-relief plan, made barrier-free travel possible for many of the 1.3 million drivers who use the Tollway each day. Drivers paying with cash are separated from high-speed traffic, preventing bottlenecks and backups at toll plazas.

The design of individual toll plazas became a key component of making the ORT system a success. As part of the team of consultants studying plaza geometries and traffic analyses, Burns & McDonnell led a two-part charrette process to develop and refine the conceptual design for the plazas.

The conversion of the 20 toll plazas in less than two years required intense coordination among all team members and the Tollway staff to expedite the concept, design, bid and construction processes.

“As design project manager, Burns & McDonnell oversaw 20 projects simultaneously,” says Mike Folta, Burns & McDonnell project director. “The charrette process, followed by frequent technical group meetings, provided a venue for getting the best ideas incorporated into the process early and made it possible to address potential scheduling issues early. The team was also able to move construction forward even while design details were being finalized.”

For more information, contact Mike Folta, 630-724-3227.

Overhead Walkway

The design included an overhead walkway to connect the bi-directional tolling plaza, evaluated and determined during the charrette to be an expedient and cost-effective means to establish plaza

operations. Walkways replaced the tunnel connections used at barrier plazas.

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Cash Handling

The prototype conceptual design generated by the charrette process incorporated traffic analyses that determined the number of cash payment lanes required in the final configuration, as well as during each stage of construction.

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For more information, visit http://transportation.burnsmcd.com.

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Building Prototype

Accommodation of full mainline section and peak cash demand made many plaza footprints wider. Prototype building designs made it possible to keep plaza building footprints within the existing right-of-way

to avoid acquisition issues and expedite the project schedule. The concept also had to factor in necessary storage space and room for employee tasks.

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LEED® Considerations

Plaza designs needed to be efficient and flexible, but they also needed to include elements of the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED®) rating system. Energy efficient materials, rooftop

solar panels and plentiful windows for use of available daylight were incorporated where possible. Open Road Tolling also reduces noise and emissions by minimizing stopping traffic and delays at plazas.

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Open Road Tolling Lanes

Traffic flow analyses led to complete separation of traffic using the electronic I-PASS to pay tolls. High-speed lanes will allow cars to avoid slowing at the toll plazas, resulting in fewer bottlenecks, improved

safety and less overall congestion on the heaviest commuter routes.

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[F R O M T H E C O V E R ]

Effective Design for the Pulse of Patient Care

Healthcare’s Vital Signs

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While the healthcare industry may be experiencing some of the growing pains of a recessionary economy, long term the industry isn’t ill-fated. Maturing baby boomers and a nursing shortage are testament to a continued demand for quality healthcare. Aging medical facilities, medical breakthroughs and technology advancements alone are enough to demand a hospital rebuilding boom. Adding the latest developments in healthcare design and the cost savings of energy efficiency to the equation begs the question: Why not build now?

“Everyone is in a holding pattern. Every CEO is concerned about making fiscally conservative decisions in today’s economic climate,” says Rick Keeler, vice president and general manager of the Burns & McDonnell Healthcare & Research Facilities Group.

“Building a new hospital or renovating an existing facility will, unfortunately, never be cheaper. Healthcare is a very competitive market. Staying current with trends and technology is vital to retaining staff and attracting patients.”

Evidence-Based DesignOne of the recent advancements in healthcare architecture, evidence-based design stems from evidence-based medicine as the practice of making design decisions based on research that proves a particular design yields the desired result.

Consider daylighting. A 2005 study published in Psychosomatic Medicine found post-operative spinal surgery patients who were exposed to bright natural sunlight experienced less stress and required 22 percent less pain medication than patients recovering from spinal surgery in dimly lit rooms. Related studies prove that daylighting improves staff productivity, saves energy and

even accelerates recovery. This allows patients exposed to daylighting to leave the hospital 20 percent sooner than those in dimly lit rooms, a cost saver for both the hospital and the patient.

At Methodist Boerne Medical Center in Boerne, Texas, emergency room staff and patients enjoy the positive effects of daylighting with a large, frosted-glass skylight above the centrally located nurses’ station and windows that allow natural light to infiltrate treatment rooms.

“Daylight will always be better than any light fixture because it creates a positive atmosphere within a facility and saves energy during daylight hours,” says Keeler, principal architect for the Methodist Boerne Medical Center Emergency Department. “Skylights not only offer the benefits of daylighting but also solve the problem of limited real estate left for windows with all of the required equipment in a modern, technologically advanced emergency department.”

Architectural design preferences are changing with the latest in evidence-based design. In the past, popular theories supported the incorporation of semi-private patient rooms. While semi-private rooms allow for more beds, the risk for hospital-acquired infections is just too high — one in 10 patients contract

nosocomial infections, adding $6.7 billion annually in 2002 dollars to U.S. healthcare costs and killing thousands, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Because of these considerable figures, Medicare will no longer pay higher-rate hospital bills for certain hospital-acquired infections as of Oct. 1, 2008, and prohibits the hospital from billing the patient for the difference — a significant motivation for hospitals to implement proven infection control measures such as single-patient rooms.

“Since evidence-based design is still in its infancy, studies do not yet exist for all design elements,” says Keeler. “Great design can incorporate evidence-based design and meet the unique needs and goals of each organization. For me, that’s the challenge; it’s never the same.”

Blueprint for RetentionTo be successful, a hospital must offer more than just adequate space to treat patients. It must also be inviting to patients and visitors as a center for leading-edge medical care in a hospitable environment. It must appeal to doctors as a pleasant environment, where they want to refer patients. It must attract and retain nurses during a nursing shortage, maintain community involvement and operate efficiently.

Open-concept architectural design at the Methodist Boerne Medical Center Emergency Department improves the quality of care at the hospital, while daylighting saves energy and creates a positive atmosphere.

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[F R O M T H E C O V E R ]

Through his 30 years of experience in healthcare architecture, Keeler found that an open-concept emergency department design improves operational efficiency and staff retention. At the Methodist Boerne Medical Center, he worked with the Hospital Corporation of America (HCA) to modify its standard formula for emergency department design into a more open concept.

The sunlit Methodist Boerne Emergency Department, which opened in fall 2007, revolves around a central nurses’ station with walls no higher than 4 feet, allowing nurses an unobstructed, 360-degree view of the department with optimal visibility of patient treatment areas. Often, offices and storage rooms interspersed throughout an emergency department interfere with visibility and workflow.

“Visibility is essential for managing the critical issues an emergency department staff is confronted with daily,” says Keeler, who designed a similar open-concept emergency room for Christus Santa Rosa Health Care in San Antonio.

A central nurses’ station fosters communication and, as a result, retention, which is especially important for hospitals facing the challenges of a nursing shortage. For instance, when patient-centered design first became prevalent,

Keeler remodeled a cross-shaped floor plan at University Health System in San Antonio to incorporate smaller nurses’ stations at key junctures. This allows nursing staff to stay in proximity to patient rooms. While nurses traveled fewer steps to care for patients, they felt isolated, unable to socially interact with other nurses during downtime and the night shift. And when a staff member becomes ill, separated nursing stations can create staff shortages and unbalanced personnel distribution. Such scenarios contribute to decreased job satisfaction and, as a result, diminished efficiency. Four years later Keeler redesigned those floors of University Hospital, reverting each to a design revolving around a central nurses’ station.

Eco-Friendly PaybackSustainable design can please many hospital stakeholders. For publicly owned healthcare organizations that may be required to obtain Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED®) certification, this designation promotes a positive public image by showcasing the organization’s desire to care for our planet as well as its patients.

“LEED® certification or not, sustainability is inherent in our designs,” says Keeler. “We implement the most efficient mechanical systems, the most durable materials and the most effective sustainable solutions that make sense for each facility.”

At the Brownsville Community Health Center in Brownsville, Texas, Burns & McDonnell incorporated sustainable features with direct payback into the medical facility’s design. For example, the health center has motion sensor-activated lights instead of traditional flip switches. This simple substitution saves enough energy to offset the initial cost of purchasing motion sensors with a more than 100 percent payback.

Design for the Evolving PatientThe patient population also influences how healthcare facilities are designed. The first of the baby boomers turn 65 in 2011 and 880,000 people worldwide join them in the 65-plus age range each month, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. A senior patient may experience difficulty when moving around a hospital room, so handrails are being added between the patient’s bed and bathroom door. Some floor plans are being reconfigured to shorten the distance an older patient must travel to the restroom. With a population weight shift, nurses are no longer able to assist obese patients in getting out of bed, so hospitals are incorporating additional electric bed lifts that were once reserved for patients with major orthopedic injuries.

Technologically SecureWith the U.S. investing $50 billion over the next five years in electronic information technology systems for healthcare and the emergence of electronic medical records, an accessible yet secure network infrastructure is becoming a critical need for all healthcare facilities.

“The expertise of our architects, engineers, and environmental and construction professionals merges through an integrated approach from day one, so your healthcare facility works for you,” says Keeler. “We know the pressing issues that hospitals are up against. That’s why we design with the future in mind, so you only build what you need now and leave with a master plan flexible enough to keep pace with your changing needs.”

For more information, contact Rick Keeler, 816-822-3244.

Visit http://architecture.burnsmcd.com to see the Burns & McDonnell healthcare architecture portfolio.

A central nurses station and open floor plan in the Methodist Boerne Medical Center Emergency Department enhances staff efficiency and retention.

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[F R O M T H E C O V E R ]

Backup Power’s Miracle CureIn today’s digital age, hospitals have grown increasingly more dependant upon electricity.When disaster strikes and the lights go out, hospital operations cease. To ensure continued care in a disaster, the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Health Care Organizations recently codified a backup power timeline within the emergency operations plan requirements for hospitals. In an emergency, hospitals must keep utilities running, among other operations, for 96 hours.

All hospitals are required to have a diesel generator as backup, but these have proven to be unreliable. While emergency backup power turns on within the National Electric Code-required 10 seconds, during the recent Northeast blackout, 67 percent of backup power failed because these systems weren’t designed to run continuously. With a 33 percent chance of success, diesel backup generators simply aren’t enough in life-or-death situations.

Efficient, Reliable and Sustainable PowerEnergy is a hospital’s second largest expense — second only to staff compensation — so increasing energy efficiency and decreasing energy use with a more reliable power source cuts a hospital’s operating costs significantly.

Dell Children’s Medical Center of Central Texas, the first LEED® Platinum hospital worldwide, and the new Shands Cancer Center at the University of Florida turned to Burns & McDonnell to find more efficient and reliable energy. For both hospitals, Burns & McDonnell designed an on-site combined heat and power (CHP) plant and assisted in developing financial and economic cost models, which included each hospital partnering with its local utility — Austin Energy and Gainesville Regional Utilities, respectively.

“Especially for public, nonprofit hospitals, partnering with a local utility creates a win-win situation for both parties,” says Ed Mardiat, principal and director of CHP development for

Burns & McDonnell. “Through a cost-sharing arrangement, the utility acquires another power plant, which alleviates grid congestion and offsets ever-increasing demand. The hospital benefits through the cost savings of energy efficiency, more reliable and increased backup power, cleaner normal power and islanding.”

While a facility with on-site CHP is still connected in parallel with the electric grid, it doesn’t have to rely upon the grid for power. For instance, in Gainesville, Fla., if there’s a hurricane, Gainesville Regional Utilities will disconnect, or island, the energy center from the grid before the hurricane hits to ensure reliable power continues to serve Shands Cancer Center without disruption. With on-site CHP, power at Shands Cancer Center won’t be disrupted or transferred onto the emergency diesel generator when the surrounding area loses power. (See page 15 for benefits of CHP at Shands Cancer Center.)

For facilities seeking LEED® certification, the sustainable features of CHP can make the difference between gold and platinum, as it did for Dell Children’s Medical Center — a distinction that improves the hospital’s public image, resulting in positive press coverage, neighborhood support and a philanthropic edge.

The Future of CHPThe U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) considers CHP to be “one of the most promising options in the U.S. energy efficiency portfolio” because of its low greenhouse gas emissions, high energy efficiency, potential for nationwide implementation and ability to relieve the burden of increasing demand on the electric grid. As a result, the DOE is encouraging the nation to augment CHP generation to reach 20 percent, or 240,900 megawatts, of U.S. power generation capacity by 2030, according to “Combined Heat and Power: Effective Energy Solutions for a Sustainable Future,” a 2008 DOE report. Achieving this goal can:• Save5.3quadrillionBtuannually,almosthalfoftotalconsumptionbyU.S.households

• ReduceCO2emissionsby848millionmetrictonsannually,theequivalentofremoving154millioncarsfromU.S.roadwaysandavoiding60percentofprojectedCO2emissionincreases

• Create1millionnewjobs• Spark$234billioninnewinvestments

“It’s not just hospitals that can benefit from on-site CHP generation,” says Mardiat. “Any facility with a critical mission such as a data center, defense facility, or an airport could prosper with on-site CHP.”

For more information, contact Ed Mardiat, 816-822-3344.

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In a central power delivery system, only a third of every BTU consumed is converted into electrical energy, with the rest going up the stack or cooling tower. An on-site combined heat and power (CHP) energy delivery system converts three-fourths of every BTU consumed into useful electric and thermal energy for the hospital.

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On-Site CHPDelivery System

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[F E AT U R E P R O J E C T S ]

Project: WindSpeed Transmission ProjectLocation: OklahomaClient: OG&E

Project: Buckeye Readiness CenterLocation: Sonora Desert, Ariz.Client: Arizona Department of Emergency and Military Affairs

Burns & McDonnell is helping OG&E deliver wind power from Woodward, Okla., to Oklahoma City via a new 120-mile, 345-kV transmission line. The fast-tracked project, dubbed WindSpeed, will open the vast wind resources of western Oklahoma for development. WindSpeed began in November 2007 with completion expected in December 2009. Burns & McDonnell is providing routing, permitting, right-of-way acquisition, design, procurement and construction program management. The project encompasses four substations, including the Woodward District EHV substation, designed with the capacity to tie into multiple wind farms. Burns & McDonnell performed an extensive routing study to develop routes presented at public involvement meetings and worked with state and county agencies and the Corps of Engineers to approve the final route. The line is supported by steel monopoles on drilled-shaft foundations according to a new design standard created for OG&E . To meet the aggressive schedule, Burns & McDonnell is coordinating construction as rights-of-way are acquired.

For more information, contact Josh Evans, 832-214-2868.

WindSpeed: Clean Power, Fast

The Arizona Department of Emergency and Military Affairs (DEMA) needed a facility for nearly 500 National Guard and Army Reserve personnel in the Sonora Desert — on a limited budget. With the nearest potable water source more than a mile away, Burns & McDonnell scientists used advanced technology to locate a well capable of meeting drinking water and fire-suppression system demands. Multiple septic tank systems collect and treat wastewater on site. To deliver the facility within budget, Burns & McDonnell used pre-engineered buildings, adding fire protection, standby power, network and other systems. The six-building Buckeye Readiness Center includes an assembly hall, simulator room, recruiting office, family center and gym; training rooms, offices and work spaces; a vehicle-maintenance training bay, arms vaults and mobility locker rooms. “We went to great lengths to assist the DEMA in reducing costs,” says project manager Bob Schulz. “We reduced costs by more than $10 million while providing the required facilities for training and maintaining forces ready to respond as needed.”

For more information, contact Bob Schulz, 602-977-2623, or Victor Poland, 816-822-3840.

Readiness Within a Budget

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When the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ budget to house the Combat Aviation Brigade of the 1st Infantry Division at Fort Riley, Kan., fell short of bids, Burns & McDonnell, along with other bidders, met with the corps to discuss smart ways to trim costs without sacrificing quality. After submitting a plan that met budget constraints, the team from Burns & McDonnell began work in 2007 — with the brigade’s soldiers and aircraft already headed for home. Burns & McDonnell completed the original scope-of-work items for the 70-acre site and 300,000 square feet of building space by Jan. 31, 2009. The project included design and construction of a 4,500-foot concrete runway with state-of-the-art lighting and navigational systems; taxiways and apron parking; a 63,000-square-foot, six-bay helicopter maintenance hangar with AFFF fire protection; two battalion headquarters; three company operations facilities; a complete 15-kV electrical loop; upgrades to domestic

water supply; two access roads; and stormwater, sanitary sewers and industrial waste systems. Design work was documented using building information modeling to create a database of equipment and systems information integrated with the drawings. Construction management also was automated. All six major buildings are seeking Silver certification through the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED®) program. LEED® features include stormwater runoff control, water usage reduction, optimized energy performance, construction waste management, recycled and regionally supplied materials, and recycling of all pavements demolished for the new airfield work. The project received two awards from the Missouri/Kansas Chapter of the American Concrete Pavement Association.

For more information, contact Pete Karnowski, 816-822-3058.

Facilities for the Big Red One

Project: 1st Combat Aviation Brigade FacilitiesLocation: Fort Riley, Kan.

Client: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers

2009 No. 2

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[O N S I T E ]

Increasing Efficiency and Reliability While Improving the Environment

Combined Heat and Power Plant

Allows Florida Hospital to Focus on

Patient Care, Even in the Event of

a Natural Disaster

The Gainesville Regional Utilities South Energy Center can provide 4.3 megawatts of off-the-grid, high-quality power to Shands Cancer Center.

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ChallengeElectrical outages are a nuisance anywhere; in a state-of-the-art digital hospital, patient care will stop. Hospitals typically have an emergency diesel-powered generator that kicks into action in the event of a power loss. Code requires that the emergency generator start within 10 seconds but only generate enough power to allow safe egress of occupants in the event of a grid outage.

Most recently, prolonged grid outages have been caused by natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina and Rita along the Gulf Coast and by manmade outages like the 2003 power blackout in the northeastern United States and the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. These real-world examples demonstrate what can happen when we lose power for long periods. One study investigating the reliability of emergency generators during the northeast blackout showed that nearly all started within the required 10 seconds, but more than 60 percent failed to keep running.

But today, a digital hospital needs more than emergency power to get people out of the hospital. It needs an on-site energy system to keep 100 percent of the hospital operational for days, not hours. There is a better way: An on-site combined heat and power (CHP) system can generate all power needed for the hospital and use the waste heat from the generator to produce all required chilled water for cooling and steam for heating. A CHP system also enhances the efficiency and reliability of the hospital’s systems and significantly reduces emissions compared to a hospital being fed from the grid alone.

When Shands HealthCare decided to build a new cancer hospital in hurricane-prone Gainesville, Fla., it knew it needed an efficient, reliable and environmentally clean energy source to keep the hospital operational in the event of a power disruption. It also decided to find an energy partner to own and operate the on-site energy system to provide electricity, chilled water and steam. After a competitive solicitation, Shands selected Gainesville Regional Utilities (GRU), the local municipal utility, to finance, design, build, own, operate and maintain an on-site energy center as part of an innovative 50-year energy agreement.

SolutionBurns & McDonnell is one of seven companies

— and the only engineering and construction firm — selected by the U.S. Department of Energy in 2004 to develop on-site energy CHP systems. The GRU South Energy Center at the Shands Cancer Center is the second such plant designed by Burns & McDonnell. The first went into operation in 2006 at the Dell Children’s Medical Center of Central Texas.

“At a time when the nation’s power grid seems increasingly vulnerable to interruption, an on-site power source offers the improved reliability that can be achieved by running in parallel with the grid.”“At a time when the nation’s power grid seems increasingly vulnerable to interruption, an on-site power source offers the improved reliability that can be achieved by running in parallel with the grid. It also has the ability to disconnect from the grid without disruption of service to the hospital or facility,” says Ed Mardiat, principal and director of CHP development for Burns & McDonnell. “In addition, hospitals have grown more reliant on digital technology, such as MRIs and CAT scans, which are extremely sensitive to power quality and voltage fluctuations. That means that reliable and quality power is more important than ever.”

The GRU South Energy Center, which went into service in February 2009, efficiently converts fuel into useful energy. The Department of Energy report “Combined Heat and Power: Effective Energy Solutions for a Sustainable Future” defines CHP as

“the concurrent production of electricity or mechanical power and useful thermal energy (heating and/or cooling) from a single source of energy. CHP is a type of distributed generation, which, unlike central

station generation, is located at or near the point of consumption. Instead of purchasing electricity from the local utility and then burning fuel in a furnace or boiler to produce thermal energy, consumers use CHP to provide these energy services in one energy-efficient step. As a result, CHP improves efficiency and reduces greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.” The GRU South Energy Center is designed and sized to meet the hospital’s thermal baseload demand.

In this case, compared to a traditional central generation plant fueled by fossil fuel, the natural gas-fired CHP system produces 95 percent less nitrogen oxides, nearly 100 percent less sulfur dioxide and 58 percent less carbon dioxide. This carbon dioxide reduction is equal to the annual carbon stored by 5,446 acres of pine and fir forests or the carbon emissions of 4,365 passenger vehicles per year, as calculated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency CHP Emission Calculator.

ResultsIn Gainesville, the GRU South Energy Center, a three-story, 40,500-square-foot facility, can provide 4.3 megawatts of power, 800 bhp of steam and 2,400 tons of chilled water. It has been designed to accommodate future expansion of the hospital and future build-out of the Shands site campus.

Shands administrators chose GRU as their energy partner so they could focus on their core business of patient care. In turn, the arrangement allows GRU to focus on its core business of energy services. The innovative business agreement between Shands and GRU allows any excess power generated by the CHP system to be sold to the grid, with any proceeds being shared by both parties.

“The CHP plant is only part of the hospital’s power system. There are two independent grid feeds from GRU’s power distribution system, along with two on-site, diesel-powered emergency generators,” Mardiat says. “There’s a lot of flexibility in how GRU’s operators can configure this plant to keep it up and running.”

For more information, contact Ed Mardiat, 816-822-3344.

For more on CHP systems, visit www.burnsmcd.com/chp.

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Food manufacturers are creative when it comes to developing new products and processes. Now there’s incentive to think outside the box in terms of energy systems, too.

The Department of Energy and other agencies provide funding for projects that advance the use of renewable energy, energy efficiency and fuel flexibility. Funding assistance can come in the form of research support, tax credits or direct project grants.

These public/private partnerships can accomplish what would be difficult for either business or government sectors to achieve alone: real-world demonstration of new technologies developed to fight global warming and increase U.S. energy security. Finding a MatchBurns & McDonnell project manager Rod Schwass specializes in matching clients with funding opportunities through the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Industrial Technology Program (ITP) in its Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.

The ITP supports projects that demonstrate the benefits of technologies such as combined heat and power (CHP) systems, small-scale wind power, roof-mounted solar arrays and biomass energy systems.

These technologies improve energy efficiency by squeezing the maximum utility from energy resources. CHP systems use waste heat from on-site power generation for useful purposes: heating, cooling, hot water, thermal energy storage

and other applications. Thin-film solar panels can be mounted on unused rooftop space to capture energy from the sun to produce power, and solar-concentrator technology can be used to produce steam or hot water. Biomass energy systems, using feedstock materials such as agricultural or food process waste, landfill gas or waste wood can produce both thermal and electrical energy. Many of these applications are readily adaptable to the food process industry. Incentives for ChangeThrough its program Save Energy Now, ITP provides no-cost initial assessments to assist facilities in analyzing their energy usage and determining the potential for implementing alternative energy systems. Through a combination of direct grants, tax credit programs and loan guarantee programs, the DOE may also provide up to 80 percent of the cost of feasibility analysis and 50 percent of project implementation costs.

That’s a powerful incentive for projects that also will reduce facilities’ energy costs on an ongoing basis.

“In the past five years alone, we have secured more than $130 million in incentive funding for its utility, industrial and institutional clients’ alternative energy projects,” Schwass says.

Case in PointMost recently, Burns & McDonnell secured a significant DOE grant for a Midwestern food-industry client to design and install a fuel-flexibility project offsetting the use of natural gas for process heat. A 60,000-pound biomass boiler will burn waste wood from three guaranteed sources near the facility. The DOE funded more than $1.8 million of the project costs through its Fuel and Feedstock Flexibility Program. Burns & McDonnell food processing specialists designed special controls and other modifications that made the use of wood-fired boilers feasible for process needs.

“If you look at recent DOE-sponsored studies on energy consumption, they clearly show that industry accounts for one-third of all energy consumption in the United States,” says Schwass. “From the DOE’s perspective, the food-industry in particular is considered to be an energy-intensive industry and one

in which alternative energy systems are under-utilized.

“Through incentive programs, the DOE is helping the food industry identify and implement alternative-energy projects. These projects contribute directly to reduced fossil-fuel consumption and reduced energy costs for food producers while improving U.S. energy independence.”

For more information, contact Rod Schwass, (816) 822-4213.

Funds for Food-Processing FacilitiesPublic/Private Partnerships for Sustainability and Savings

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18

Food manufacturers are creative when it comes to developing new products and processes. Now there’s incentive to think outside the box in terms of energy systems, too.

The Department of Energy and other agencies provide funding for projects that advance the use of renewable energy, energy efficiency and fuel flexibility. Funding assistance can come in the form of research support, tax credits or direct project grants.

These public/private partnerships can accomplish what would be difficult for either business or government sectors to achieve alone: real-world demonstration of new technologies developed to fight global warming and increase U.S. energy security. Finding a MatchBurns & McDonnell project manager Rod Schwass specializes in matching clients with funding opportunities through the U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Industrial Technology Program (ITP) in its Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.

The ITP supports projects that demonstrate the benefits of technologies such as combined heat and power (CHP) systems, small-scale wind power, roof-mounted solar arrays and biomass energy systems.

These technologies improve energy efficiency by squeezing the maximum utility from energy resources. CHP systems use waste heat from on-site power generation for useful purposes: heating, cooling, hot water, thermal energy storage

City leaders in Lee’s Summit, Mo., had a question. They wondered how best to allocate bond issue funds to add and repair sidewalks throughout the Kansas City suburb. Where should they start?

A unique combination of high-tech devices and old-fashioned shoe leather turned out to be the solution. The Business & Technology Services Group of Burns & McDonnell developed a database system that puts the details of sidewalk locations and conditions at the fingertips of city staff, helping them prioritize upgrades and repairs.

Two Burns & McDonnell managers and two interns walked almost 400 miles of city streets to find where new sidewalks were needed and what sidewalks required repairs.

“We put a foot on every mile,” says Bryan Claxton, Burns & McDonnell project manager.

“We wanted to get information that the city could work with.”

The team logged the condition of sidewalk sections into personal tablet computers that were running a mobile geographic information system (GIS) software and equipped with digital cameras. The team noted the location of defects and photographed every defect ranging from gaps to cracks. To help the city locate these trouble spots, the location of each defect was collected with a global positioning system (GPS) device. This system allowed all 14,500 defects to be documented with photographs and a location within approximately 3-foot accuracy.

A sidewalk ranking system was developed that allowed each sidewalk section to be scored so that city officials could identify the most significant problems. “Sections with a few unsightly weeds might receive a low defect score, but the ones with significant deterioration such as 3-inch vertical faults

and other applications. Thin-film solar panels can be mounted on unused rooftop space to capture energy from the sun to produce power, and solar-concentrator technology can be used to produce steam or hot water. Biomass energy systems, using feedstock materials such as agricultural or food process waste, landfill gas or waste wood can produce both thermal and electrical energy. Many of these applications are readily adaptable to the food process industry. Incentives for ChangeThrough its program Save Energy Now, ITP provides no-cost initial assessments to assist facilities in analyzing their energy usage and determining the potential for implementing alternative energy systems. Through a combination of direct grants, tax credit programs and loan guarantee programs, the DOE may also provide up to 80 percent of the cost of feasibility analysis and 50 percent of project implementation costs.

That’s a powerful incentive for projects that also will reduce facilities’ energy costs on an ongoing basis.

received a high defect score,” Claxton says. “The segments were then ranked with the highest defect scores representing the sidewalks in the greatest state of disrepair.”

When the team returned from the field, the information from the tablet PCs fed into a GIS database. The GIS software was used to enable Lee’s Summit officials to see problem areas clearly across the city.

“The real success was when I could sit down with the city staff and they would ask a question regarding sidewalk condition. I could show them the answer on a screen,” he says. “For example, sidewalk sections with faults of 3 inches or more show up on the computer-generated map as red stars, making identification of priorities easy.”

But the real value of the database goes beyond showing sidewalk conditions. It includes cost estimates by lineal feet. With a quick query of the database, city staffers can estimate the cost of fixing all red stars and much more.

“They can slice and dice the information any way they need to, to make a decision,” Claxton says. The information ties into the city’s maintenance management software system for tracking city assets and issuing repair orders.

The condition assessment of the city’s existing sidewalk network was only the first component. With all the existing sidewalks accurately mapped, the GIS could be used to quickly identify roads that were missing sidewalks. These missing sidewalks were considered gaps in the sidewalk network and ranked based on their proximity to pedestrian-intensive land uses such as schools and parks. Higher ranked sidewalk gap segments are the first sidewalks that will be worked into the city’s sidewalk construction programs.

“In the past five years alone, we have secured more than $130 million in incentive funding for its utility, industrial and institutional clients’ alternative energy projects,” Schwass says.

Case in PointMost recently, Burns & McDonnell secured a significant DOE grant for a Midwestern food-industry client to design and install a fuel-flexibility project offsetting the use of natural gas for process heat. A 60,000-pound biomass boiler will burn waste wood from three guaranteed sources near the facility. The DOE funded more than $1.8 million of the project costs through its Fuel and Feedstock Flexibility Program. Burns & McDonnell food processing specialists designed special controls and other modifications that made the use of wood-fired boilers feasible for process needs.

“If you look at recent DOE-sponsored studies on energy consumption, they clearly show that industry accounts for one-third of all energy consumption in the United States,” says Schwass. “From the DOE’s perspective, the food-industry in particular is considered to be an energy-intensive industry and one

in which alternative energy systems are under-utilized.

“Through incentive programs, the DOE is helping the food industry identify and implement alternative-energy projects. These projects contribute directly to reduced fossil-fuel consumption and reduced energy costs for food producers while improving U.S. energy independence.”

For more information, contact Rod Schwass, (816) 822-4213.

Walking the LineThe Application of GIS and GPS Technology to a Sidewalk Inventory Puts City Officials in Step with Needed Repairs

Burns & McDonnell staff walked nearly 400 miles of sidewalks in Lee’s Summit, Mo., to build a database of sidewalk conditions.

Funds for Food-Processing FacilitiesPublic/Private Partnerships for Sustainability and Savings

“But the real value of the database goes beyond showing sidewalk conditions. It includes cost estimates by lineal feet. With a quick query, city staffers can estimate costs.”

“This initial application of engineering and technology to a sidewalk system demonstrates the power that information management can provide,” Claxton says. “Now that Lee’s Summit officials know the condition of their sidewalks, they can plan improvements, and their community will be safer.”

For more information, contact Bryan Claxton, 816-822-4364.

B U R N S & M c D O N N E L L 2009 No. 2