{"id":20046,"date":"2012-03-01T08:47:20","date_gmt":"2012-03-01T16:47:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/?p=20046"},"modified":"2012-03-01T08:47:20","modified_gmt":"2012-03-01T16:47:20","slug":"hospital-heal-thy-high-carbon-self","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2012\/03\/01\/hospital-heal-thy-high-carbon-self\/","title":{"rendered":"Hospital, Heal Thy High-Carbon Self"},"content":{"rendered":"

Kaiser, UCSF and Stanford University Medical Center are all looking for ways to get greener<\/strong><\/p>\n

By Kamal Menghrajani<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Solar panels on the roof of Kaiser's hospital in Modesto will help the Oakland-based health care provider reduce its greenhouse gas emissions.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

All across California, people are looking for ways to be more eco-friendly: composting, recycling, driving less, and turning out the lights. Now it looks like hospitals in the area are following suit, as Kaiser Permanente<\/a> announced new \u2018green\u2019 initiatives this week.<\/p>\n

The Oakland-based health care provider is installing fuel cells and solar panels at its hospitals and clinics throughout the state. The huge non-profit is also turning to green building techniques for new construction projects and to save energy where possible in existing facilities.<\/p>\n

The goal is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 30%, or a total of 264,000 metric tons, by the year 2020.<\/p>\n

Health care activities take a significant toll on the environment, accounting for eight percent of the country\u2019s total greenhouse gas emissions. Kaiser, with its network of 36 hospitals and more than 500 clinics, is positioned to make a serious dent in emissions.<\/p>\n

Kaiser\u2019s Chief Energy Officer, Ram\u00e9 Hemstreet, admits that it will be expensive to get the initiative underway, but he says the projects will pay for themselves over time. \u201cYou invest a million dollars in an energy conservation measure that returns $150,000 a year in energy cost reduction, and you have a project with a 7- or 8-year payback,” he said. \u201cWe think this will both benefit the environment and benefit our members in terms of our cost profile.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kaiser is the latest to come on board with environmentally conscious practices that have been spreading across hospitals throughout the Bay Area.<\/p>\n

[module align=”left” width=”half” type=”pull-quote”]\u201cObviously some of the manifestations of climate change can have a deleterious impact on human health.\u201d[\/module]<\/p>\n

Stanford University Medical Center (SUMC) has been focusing efforts on waste reduction and energy efficiency. Within the last few months, managers there have taken steps such as switching from polystyrene to paper cups in patient care areas and providing biodegradable flatware with their to-go meals.<\/p>\n

The efforts led to SUMC being flagged as a Partner for Change in April by health care environmental group Practice Greenhealth<\/a>. Wesley Palmquist, Vice President of General Services for SUMC, says the Medical Center is now recycling more than 10% of its total waste stream.<\/p>\n

UC San Francisco<\/a> is trying to move toward a greener future by looking backwards, with\u00a0 aggressive goals to scale back greenhouse gas emissions to 1990 levels (also the benchmark for California’s centerpiece climate law, known as AB 32), and aiming for zero waste by the end of the decade.<\/p>\n

All three hospital systems are seeking Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design<\/a> (LEED) certification for their new construction projects.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously some of the manifestations of climate change can have a deleterious impact on human health,\u201d Kaiser\u2019s Hemstreet says. \u201cSo we\u2019re going to do our part to ensure that we\u2019re reducing our carbon footprint.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Kaiser, UCSF and Stanford University Medical Center all look for ways to get greener.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11416,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[270,468],"coauthors":[],"series":[],"affiliates":[],"programs":[],"collections":[],"interests":[],"class_list":["post-20046","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-government-business","tag-health","tag-renewable-energy"],"acf":{"template_type":"standard","featured_image_type":"standard","is_audio_post":false},"yoast_head":"\nHospital, Heal Thy High-Carbon Self | Climate Watch<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/ww2.kqed.org\/climatewatch\/2012\/03\/01\/hospital-heal-thy-high-carbon-self\/\" \/>\n<meta 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