Top Three Things Hospitals Can Do to Curb Their Carbon Footprints
In recent posts, we highlighted the health impacts of climate change and the health care sector’s carbon footprint. While the U.S. health care sector generates up to 10% of total nationwide greenhouse gas emissions, this large carbon footprint means that hospitals’ efforts to reduce emissions and build climate resilience have the potential to significantly move the needle on climate change. Several U.S. health systems are already leading the way on climate action, serving as models for the rest of the sector by reducing their carbon footprints, transitioning to renewable energy, and building climate-resilient facilities. Read on to learn about the most impactful actions hospitals can take to reduce their carbon footprints.
Deploy Clean, Efficient, Energy
Due to their unique activities and 24/7 operating hours, hospitals are incredibly energy-intensive, using 2.5 times more energy per square foot than office buildings. In fact, inpatient health care is ranked by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as the second-largest commercial energy user in the U.S. With energy consumption accounting for such a large part of hospitals’ carbon footprint, conserving energy and procuring renewable energy are among the most impactful steps hospitals can take to reduce their carbon footprints.
According to Practice Greenhealth, steps that hospitals can take to improve energy efficiency and shift to renewable energy include:
Establish systems to accurately track and benchmark energy use to help identify underperforming buildings, assess the effectiveness of any efficiency efforts, and identify opportunities to improve.
Set ambitious energy goals to help drive impact, identify key partners, and hold the organization accountable. The Healthier Hospitals Leaner Energy Challenge outlines a framework to help hospitals benchmark their energy consumption and empower teams to conserve energy and reduce emissions.
Use these goals and metrics to create a Strategic Energy Master Plan to guide energy-related strategies and decision-making.
Optimize energy use through retro- and continuous commissioning, lighting modifications, and HVAC system upgrades. Target beneficial electrification, heating and cooling upgrades, and equipment changes to eliminate combustion sources.
Once energy efficiency and electrification measures have been implemented, replace the balance of conventional energy with clean, renewable energy technologies such as solar, wind, geothermal, and other renewable sources to eliminate fossil fuel combustion.
Employ a low carbon purchasing and utilization program
More than 70% of U.S. health care sector emissions come from the supply chain through the production, transport, use, and disposal of goods and services that the sector consumes. With supply chain accounting for such a large percentage of emissions, a focus on efforts to reduce supply chain emissions for health care goods and services is critical.
One key action that hospitals can take is developing an Environmentally Preferable Purchasing (EPP) Standard to require that specific environmental criteria (such as cleaner energy, safer chemicals, less waste, healthier and more sustainable food, and water conservation) be met in purchasing decisions, and that current and prospective suppliers comply with the set standard. Since its implementation, Kaiser Permanente’s EPP Program has led to $63 million in cost savings, delivering environmental savings reaching approximately 2,400 tons of waste reduced and 87,000,000 kWh saved.
Implement Low-Carbon Transportation Practices
Transportation accounts for significant greenhouse gas emissions when you consider the amount of energy going into workforce commuting, patient and family travel, and the transport of patients, goods, and services to and from the hospital. To reduce transportation emissions, health care organizations can consider practices such as providing public transportation pass subsidies to staff, charging daily parking rates, electrifying of fleet vehicles, installing electric vehicle charging stations, allowing remote work and providing telehealth where appropriate, providing bike parking and shower facilities, and working with your local jurisdiction to support bike, pedestrian, and transit improvements.
By implementing these strategies and others across their operations, hospitals can reduce their climate impacts in ways that provide direct health benefits to their communities while creating positive changes in and cost savings for their organizations. Stay tuned for our next post, where we will highlight how hospitals can help to enhance climate resilience in their communities, with models from pioneering U.S. health systems that are working to do just that.
