Loads that are found in health facilities, like lighting and refrigeration, are common to other customers, but health facilities require reliable power to ensure the safety of their patients.

The medical equipment in a health-care facility is used for a range of services from lighting to x-ray imaging; in an emergency, it is critical that the equipment works.

Cold storage, be it refrigeration or freezing, is required to maximize the shelf time of vaccines, medicines, testing reagents, and blood products. Several cold storage products, such as solar-powered and ice-lined refrigerators, have been developed to accommodate an unreliable or intermittent electricity supply. If donors, project managers, and facility managers are planning to install cold storage in a health-care facility, it is important to completely understand the expected loads when designing the energy system.

Lighting requirements in a health-care facility include both general space lighting and focused task lighting. Due to the number of lights within a health-care facility, lighting can be a significant fraction of a facility’s entire energy audit. Different technologies are available—incandescent, fluorescent, and LED—at different price points, colors, and efficiencies. The correct lights for a new energy system should minimize energy demand while satisfying task-lighting requirements.

This toolkit provides information on typical energy requirements, classifications, and standards that are applied to both medical cold chain and lighting equipment.

• USAID

  Health System Loads

  Cold Chain and Refrigeration

  A cold chain is a series of climate-controlled transport and storage facilities that ensure the viability of testing reagents, medicines, vaccines, and blood products from factory to patient. Learn more

• Thavlosk (CC BY-SA 3.0)

  Health System Loads

  Efficient Lighting and LEDs

  Health facilities of all sizes can benefit from lighting that increases energy efficiency, reduces maintenance costs, and improves environments. Learn more