A hospital’s fleet vehicles such as ambulances, courier cars and vans, supply trucks, home health care vehicles, and shuttle buses each has an emissions footprint. This is true whether driving miles across town to deliver care or idling in the ambulance bay.
Transitioning fleet vehicles to alternative fuels, implementing idle reduction practices and policies, streamlining travel routes to reduce unnecessary driving, and other tactics can all substantially reduce an organization’s fuel costs and emissions levels. Patients, employees, and the larger community also benefit from the reduction in dangerous, unhealthy emissions from fossil-fuel burning vehicles.
For many fleet vehicles, idle time wears the engine and spends the same amount of fuel as driving 25 miles. Reducing idle time can save hospitals unnecessary fuel expenses and service and maintenance costs.
Practice Greenhealth offers tools and case studies to help our members assess the best way to reduce transportation emissions. Our goal is to provide step-by-step resources that will make it simpler for any hospital with a sustainable transportation goal to design, implement, and measure the success of fleet vehicle emissions reduction strategies.
