Carbon Footprint of Hospitals

Hospital Carbon Footprint

Introduction

The last time you went to the hospital, were you more concerned with the chemicals that said hospital released into the atmosphere or

why you were in the hospital in the first place? Hospitals are such a staple in life that most don't bother to consider the effects they

might have on the environment. Hospitals need to expend an immense amount of energy to tend to their patients, employees, and

visitors. They emit a large amount of carbon into the atmosphere and presumably have a huge carbon footprint; the measure of the

amount of carbon emitted into the atmosphere is a carbon footprint. This footprint includes lighting, heating and cooling of the

hospital, etc.

This paper includes a comparison between Pioneers Memorial Hospital in Brawley, California and the average U.S. Hospital.

All the following calculations are based on the assumption that all hospitals are open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365

days a year.

US Average

In a typical hospital, lighting, heating, and hot water represent about 60 percent of its total energy use. Hospitals in the U.S. use an average of 27.5 kilowatt-hours of electricity and 110 cubic feet of natural gas per square foot annually. An average hospital is about 75090.9 square feet.

Electricity:

You can simply calculate how much electricity an average hospital uses by multiplying the kilowatt-hours by the square footage.

* 27.5 kilowatt-hours * 75090.9 square feet = 2064999.75 kilowatt-hours/year.

We are also going to assume that all of the electricty used is an average of the different energy sources. This helps calculate how

much carbon dioxide is actually emitted into the air.

Energy Percentage ...

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...e, they are much more effective in the long run.

* Commissioning is a process in which engineers observe a building and perform a tune-up to ensure that its systems are operating

appropriately and efficiently. Studies have shown that this canlead to reductions of 10 to 15 percent in annual energy bills.

* Taking advantage of daylighting where possible to reduce the need for electric light is extremely useful. Also using light-emitting

diode (LED) exit lights that consume only 2 watts represent a great energy savings over incandescent fixtures, and they are easier

to maintain because of their long service life.

* Hospitals have many rooms that are used periodically, such as restrooms, storage rooms, break rooms, and offices. These rooms should

be equipped with occupancy sensors.