Addressing Climate Change in the Health Care Setting: Opportunites for Action

The health care industry has a critical role to play in climate change mitigation. Energy usage in medical facilities is highly intensive. In fact, hospitals expend about twice as much total energy per square foot as traditional office space. This document proposes a multi-pronged approach for facilities operation: transportation, energy/operations, energy/built environment, waste and food service. It provides case studies to demonstrate real-life approaches and identifies organizational assistance opportunities.