LAYTON—Intermountain Health is celebrating the one-year anniversary of its new Remote Operations Center (ROC) that has saved more than a half million dollars through tracking and monitoring energy use at larger facilities, including Intermountain Layton Hospital.

Billions of data points are used by the ROC system to track energy use and find inefficiencies in the systems that are not working, an Intermountain Health release said. Inefficiencies can be hard to find in a large facility like a hospital and aren’t always noticed until something breaks down.

“To keep a large building comfortable for patients it takes a lot of systems working together just right, and there’s a lot of spots where things can go wrong,” said Matt Wilson, remote operations center manager for Intermountain Health. “This new system picks up the smallest problems so we can find it and fix it.”

Through a partnership with Rocky Mountain Power’s Wattsmart Business Program Intermountain Health received technical guidance and incentives for reducing its energy consumption.

“Our partnership with Intermountain Health has not only saved money, but has increased energy efficiency and reduced our environmental impact,” Jessen Doxey, regional business manager for Rocky Mountain Power said. “The Wattsmart Business Program provides the savings and solutions designed to help companies reach their long-term goals.”

In one instance a glitch was discovered by the ROC in a boiler that was rapidly turning on and off to maintain temperatures at a medical clinic, the release said. In addition to wasting energy, it was also leading to a catastrophic failure of the boiler. Maintenance crews were able to fix the problem because they discovered it early on.

The ROC is in use at 18 Intermountain health facilities in Utah and Idaho but is expected to expand to 30 by the end of 2025, according to the release. “In the first year the center saved around $300,000 in gas and electricity cost, with other savings coming from extended equipment life, and utility incentives.”