Representatives of Auburn Regional Medical Center and Puget Sound Energy recently gathered to dedicate a boiler replacement project at the hospital that will reduce annual energy consumption by approximately $32,000 a year.

Approximately half of the $700,000 project cost paid by Auburn Regional was reimbursed by PSE through the energy company’s energy efficiency grant incentive program.

Two shiny stainless steel-clad boilers now purr quietly among the pipes of the hospital’s now spacious boiler room. Before the project, the room was nearly filled with two loud, large and much-less efficient 1960s era boilers.

“The two new condensing boilers replace two old steam boilers and two large electric water heaters,” said Doug Gustafson, Engineering and Plant Operations supervisor at Auburn Regional. “The old equipment was rated at 7.3 million BTUs. Now we are doing the same job with boilers rated at 4 million BTUs. “The energy savings is significant.

“The new boilers are remotely monitored, and programmed to alert us if temperatures are out of range.”

“We are pleased that PSE’s energy efficiency programs can contribute to important community-serving facilities like the Auburn Regional Medical Center,” said Robert Stolarski, director of Energy Efficiency for PSE. “The PSE grant will help the medical center to operate more efficiently and lower its energy use for years to come.”

“Auburn Regional Medical Center has worked closely with PSE on this project,” said ARMC CEO Robert Dickens. “PSE’s technical collaboration and financial participation in the project made it practical to move forward.”

In 2011, PSE provided more than 530 grants and rebates totaling more than $1.4 million dollars to the energy company’s commercial customers in Auburn for energy conservation projects.