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Health care access to renewable energy
Procuring renewable energy is a highly impactful step hospitals can take to reduce their carbon footprint and negative health impacts. As the cost of renewables falls, transitioning to renewables can reduce energy costs along with pollution. Practice Greenhealth urges health care facilities to set a goal of 100% renewable electricity by 2030. Renewable energy resources, availability, and policies vary significantly between markets, and every hospital has different needs. There is no one “right” approach to procuring renewable energy.
Most major buyers… Read More
Type: Resources
Hospitals and health systems around the world are investing in clean, renewable energy to protect the health of their patients and communities, attract and retain top-tier talent, increase the resilience of their operations to disasters, and reduce energy costs and price volatility. Combining renewable energy with electricity storage can help hospitals remain operational during extreme weather or other disruptions to the electric grid.
According to the EPA, renewable energy includes resources that rely on fuel sources that restore themselves over short periods of time and do not diminish.… Read More
Type: Resources
The health care industry is the only sector with health as its core mission. Open 24/7 and buzzing with high-tech, life-saving equipment, hospitals are incredibly energy-intensive facilities, consuming roughly 2.5 times more energy per square foot than a typical commercial office space.
While being used to save lives and improve patient health, this energy is often generated by the combustion of fossil fuels that contribute to pollution, disease, and climate change, which leads to numerous damaging health effects.
Globally, outdoor air pollution kills more than 4.5 million people each year… Read More
Type: Resources
Plant-Forward Future is a curated set of resources from Practice Greenhealth, Health Care Without Harm, and our partners that will help health care facilities set a plant-forward goal, menu, and market plant-forward dishes, and track their progress.
HOW-TO GUIDEWHY PLANT-FORWARD?RECIPE DATABASE
The resources further below are divided into three categories:
Implementation. There are multiple strategies a health care facility can use to implement a plant-forward dining program. Top strategies include: increasing the number and variety of plant-forward dishes, improving the taste and… Read More
Type: Toolkit
Plant-forward is a style of cooking and eating that emphasizes and celebrates, but is not limited to, foods from plant sources – fruits and vegetables (produce), whole grains, legumes (pulses), nuts and seeds, plant oils, and herbs and spices – and reflects evidence-based principles of health and sustainability. – Culinary Institute of America
Plant-forward is the most delicious “quadruple” bottom line approach that health care can take – achieving social, environmental, and financial goals while providing great-tasting food.
Explore why food champions in every profession from chefs to… Read More
Type: Basic page
Hospitals care for and heal patients and also protect and promote community health. Sharing information about the risks and health impacts of our changing climate, with an emphasis on a hospital’s plans to address these challenges, is integral to a hospital’s healing mission and can provide the foundation for community-wide sustainability and resiliency efforts.
Gundersen Health System achieved energy independence in 2014 with renewable energy sourced from its community. Gundersen’s former CEO Dr. Jeff Thompson explained, “Our board saw the need to make an investment to take care of our… Read More
Type: Basic page
Antonia is well-versed in climate change work that focuses on protecting public health. Her previous climate work includes roles at Physicians for Social Responsibility and the National Resources Defense Council. She holds a doctoral degree in physics from the University of California, San Diego and a master’s degree in applied physics from Columbia University. Antonia has lived in Washington, D.C. since 2002 with her husband and son.
Type: Staff
The circular economy model is a new way of looking at the relationships among markets, customers, and natural resources. This concept means moving away from the traditional “take-make dispose” economic model to one that is regenerative by design. The goal is to retain as much value as possible from resources, products, and materials and create a system that allows for long lifespans, optimal reuse, refurbishment, remanufacturing, and recycling.
Research shows investing in a circular economy has a $4.5 trillion business opportunity. This economic model holds the potential to build a more… Read More
Type: Press
Award applications for different facility types
The Practice Greenhealth Environmental Excellence Awards provide recognition for health care organization members across the achievement spectrum.
Practice Greenhealth benchmarks three categories of facilities—based on whether they have overnight (staffed) beds or operating rooms within the facility.
Facility type 1: Facilities with overnight beds and ORs (typically acute care or critical access hospitals)
Facility type 2: Inpatient facilities without operating rooms, such as long-term care (LTC), psychiatric, orthopedic rehab, and… Read More
Type: Basic page
Join Practice Greenhealth
Practice Greenhealth is the health care sector’s go-to source for information, tools, data, resources, and expert technical support on sustainability initiatives that help hospitals and health systems meet their health, financial, and community goals.
Who We Are
Practice Greenhealth is the leading sustainable health care organization, delivering environmental solutions to more than 1,500 hospitals and health systems in the United States and Canada. Partnership opportunities include hospitals, health systems, community health organizations, NGOs, nonprofits, government, academic institutions, and the health care value chain.