Quantification of Imaging Suite-Level Energy Patterns in MRI, CT, and PET/CT to Guide Energy Efficiency

Area of Science:

• Medical Imaging
• Healthcare Sustainability
• Energy Management

Background:

• Healthcare facilities face increasing pressure to reduce environmental impact, particularly from energy-intensive advanced imaging services.
• While direct hardware energy consumption is known, the total energy demand of imaging suites, including HVAC and chilled water systems, remains under-quantified.
• Understanding these energy demands is crucial for developing effective strategies to mitigate emissions and improve human health.

Purpose of the Study:

• To conduct a comprehensive assessment of imaging suite-level energy consumption.
• To quantify energy demands from main power, heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC), and chilled water subsystems.
• To identify modality-specific and subsystem-specific energy consumption patterns.

Main Methods:

• Permanent power, temperature, and flow meters were installed in four imaging suites (3-T MRI, 1.5-T MRI, CT, and PET/CT).
• Energy patterns for main power, HVAC, and chilled water subsystems were measured over a 30-day period.
• Custom software calculated suite-level energy consumption, with descriptive statistics used for analysis.

Main Results:

• Projected annual energy consumption: 3-T MRI (277.9 MWh), 1.5-T MRI (211.5 MWh), CT (54.8 MWh), and PET/CT (117.2 MWh).
• Main power was the dominant energy consumer in MRI suites (64.63% for 3-T, 72.72% for 1.5-T).
• HVAC was the primary energy driver in CT (68.8%) and PET/CT (64.76%) suites.

Conclusions:

• Suite-level energy quantification reveals distinct patterns based on imaging modality and subsystem.
• Main power is the largest energy consumer for MRI suites.
• HVAC systems represent the most significant energy demand for CT and PET/CT suites.