[From Midwest Energy News] As health care providers seek to expand clean energy, a new program will help them overcome the space limitations of their campuses.

Solar.Clinic, offered by West Virginia-based Geostellar, offers incentives for hospital employees to install solar panels. Two Midwest hospital systems have signed on – Ohio’s Cleveland Clinic and La Crosse, Wisconsin-based Gundersen Health System.

Energy consumption by healthcare networks is immense, says David Levine, CEO of Geostellar. Most hospitals consume 2.5 times the energy of a typical office building. Healthcare facilities generally are responsible for about 9 percent of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions and 10 percent of the pollution particulates that cause asthma and other pulmonary diseases, he says.

However, because many hospitals are vertically built, it can be difficult for them to install sufficient solar panels to make a dent in their fossil fuel consumption, Levine says.

“Just having the hospitals go solar isn’t really going to do much,” he says. “There is just not enough land, it’s not that practical.” That is why it makes sense for hospitals to recruit employees to help execute on their green-energy agendas, he says. (Continue Reading)