The energy consumption of radiology. Energy- and cost-saving opportunities for CT and MRI operation
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Authors
Heye, Tobias
Knoerl, Roland
Wehrle, Thomas
Mangold, Daniel
Cerminara, Alessandro
Loser, Michael
Plumeyer, Martin
Merkle, Elmar
Author (Corporation)
Publication date
24.03.2020
Typ of student thesis
Course of study
Type
01A - Journal article
Editors
Editor (Corporation)
Supervisor
Parent work
Radiology
Special issue
DOI of the original publication
Link
Series
Series number
Volume
295
Issue / Number
3
Pages / Duration
593-605
Patent number
Publisher / Publishing institution
Radiological Society of North America
Place of publication / Event location
Oak Brook
Edition
Version
Programming language
Assignee
Practice partner / Client
Abstract
Background
Awareness of energy efficiency has been rising in the industrial and residential sectors but only recently in the health care sector.
Purpose
To measure the energy consumption of modern CT and MRI scanners in a university hospital radiology department and to estimate energy- and cost-saving potential during clinical operation.
Materials and Methods
Three CT scanners, four MRI scanners, and cooling systems were equipped with kilowatt-hour energy measurement sensors (2-Hz sampling rate). Energy measurements, the scanners’ log files, and the radiology information system from the entire year 2015 were analyzed and segmented into scan modes, as follows: net scan (actual imaging), active (room time), idle, and system-on and system-off states (no standby mode was available). Per-examination and peak energy consumption were calculated.
Results
The aggregated energy consumption imaging 40 276 patients amounted to 614 825 kWh, dedicated cooling systems to 492 624 kWh, representing 44.5% of the combined consumption of 1 107 450 kWh (at a cost of U.S. $199 341). This is equivalent to the usage in a town of 852 people and constituted 4.0% of the total yearly energy consumption at the authors' hospital. Mean consumption per CT examination over 1 year was 1.2 kWh, with a mean energy cost (±standard deviation) of $0.22 ± 0.13. The total energy consumption of one CT scanner for 1 year was 26 226 kWh ($4721 in energy cost). The net consumption per CT examination over 1 year was 3580 kWh, which is comparable to the usage of a two-person household in Switzerland; however, idle state consumption was fourfold that of net consumption (14 289 kWh). Mean MRI consumption over 1 year was 19.9 kWh per examination, with a mean energy cost of $3.57 ± 0.96. The mean consumption for a year in the system-on state was 82 174 kWh per MRI examination and 134 037 kWh for total consumption, for an energy cost of $24 127.
Conclusion
CT and MRI energy consumption is substantial. Considerable energy- and cost-saving potential is present during nonproductive idle and system-off modes, and this realization could decrease total cost of ownership while increasing energy efficiency.
Keywords
MRI, CT, Radiology
Subject (DDC)
Event
Exhibition start date
Exhibition end date
Conference start date
Conference end date
Date of the last check
ISBN
ISSN
0033-8419
1527-1315
1527-1315
Language
English
Created during FHNW affiliation
Yes
Strategic action fields FHNW
Publication status
Published
Review
Peer review of the complete publication
Open access category
Green
License
Citation
Heye, T., Knoerl, R., Wehrle, T., Mangold, D., Cerminara, A., Loser, M., Plumeyer, M., Merkle, E., Degen, M., Lüthy, R., & Brodbeck, D. (2020). The energy consumption of radiology. Energy- and cost-saving opportunities for CT and MRI operation. Radiology, 295(3), 593–605. https://doi.org/10.1148/radiol.2020192084