Healthcare Leads the Way in Energy Efficiency
Two new studies from the American Society for Healthcare Engineering and Johnson Controls in collaboration with the International Facilities Management Association offer up some interesting information on the importance of energy efficiency to U.S. healthcare executives. On average, they plan to spend 8% of their capital budgets and 6% of their operating budgets to conserve energy in the coming year. This is more than any other business sector.
Most are improving their building management systems; installing energy efficient lighting, variable speed/frequency drives, and lighting sensors; adjusting time that heating/AC runs; and negotiating energy contracts with suppliers.
Hospitals are one of the worst energy “hogs,” so this is good news indeed — and one that experts believe is a long-term trend. And while I’d like to think that part of the motivation is because healthcare organizations want to be more environmentally responsible, most of it is due to the soaring price of energy and the need to control costs.
No matter — the important thing is that healthcare is realizing that going green is not only good for the planet, it is also good business.
P.S. If you haven’t checked out the Global Health & Safety Initiative’s new website yet, please do. This is a collaborative effort between CHD, Health Care Without Harm, Practice Green Health, and a group of health systems to collect and disseminate information on worker safety, patient safety, and environmental health and safety.