Green_and_Sustainable_Changes

Green Sustainable Changes Paper Green Sustainable Changes Paper Hospitals have traditional been a facility that requires the largest amount of energy to maintain and operate. Because of its importance, the suggestion to turn off a few lights will not reduce the carbon footprint that a hospital creates. Patton –Fuller Community Hospital is a facility that can use green changes. The area of the Patton – Fuller Community Hospital that may be in need of a green or sustainable makeover is the how the hospital manages information technology. The information technology interlaced in the hospital is robust. The number of elements, which includes servers, computers, and monitors that make up the network, can be found in every department of the hospital. The operation and sustainment of the IT network requires an extensive amount of energy to keep the equipment powered. The contribution to the carbon footprint that the network provides calls for a reduction effort. Reduction of the energy consumption provides an opportunity for the hospital to assess the number of elements in their IT network and determine if all of the elements are necessary for the departments to function. The hospital should seek to consolidate computers and provide PCs to essential departments only rather than to each employee. Any reclaimed computer equipment that is reclaimed can be recycled through a trade-in program with the company that the computers had been purchased from. The current system can be powered by alternative power sources, which can include solar arrays, include smart monitoring systems to manage power use, and energy conservation policies that encourage power-saving behavior. The proposal to reduce electricity consumption will focus primarily on performing an energy analysis of the hospital. The initial analysis will involve the study of the current load that hospital pulls from the utility. After the determination of peak usage, the hospital will need to perform an energy efficiency audit. Auditors will need to identify areas of the hospital that can be more energy efficient. The hospital will need to ensure that empty rooms automatically have the lights shut off when not in use. The insulation of the building around the entrances that are frequently opened will need evaluation. Temperatures that the hospital is kept at must be appropriate. Prior to incorporating alternative energy, the hospital will need to ensure that it is operating efficiently and the energy policies are in place to control energy consumption. After the energy efficiency audit is complete, the hospital can add solar panels to compensate for some of the energy use. Another area of the hospital that can adopt green and sustainable practices is during the emergency room remodeling project. In this project, there are task that allow room for green and sustainable options. One task in the remodeling project is the painting of the walls in the waiting room. The hospital may opt to use environmentally friendly paint that contains low-to-zero VOCs. In addition, the waiting room project calls for decorative features such as wainscoting. Wainscoting is excess material that provides little function in a hospital environment. Here, if the hospital insists on adding wainscoting to the waiting room, then the hospital should opt to use sustainable wood such as bamboo. The ideal scenario would be the elimination of applying wainscoting, thus avoiding unnecessarily using wood resources. The waiting room also has a fish tank that has a proposal for relocation. Fish tanks require continuous power and by removing the tank from the room, the hospital can reduce energy consumption. Also considered part of the remodeling plan is a water fountain. Although the fish tank and water fountain provides therapeutic benefits, both of these features depend on a larger power draw. Instead of using these features, the hospital may opt to use the existing computer network and install a monitor that shows nature scenes generated by a screensaver application. By performing the energy audit, the dollars associated with the energy consumption should be enough to convince management and stakeholders that the proposed changes are options that the management should accept and implement. Load calculations can be in the presentation to management. In the presentation, the total load draw of the IT network, combined with the draw of the waiting room feature will also have the costs associated with each element’s use. To implement the changes toward green and sustainability, management would need a sustainability manager to project manage the initiative. This person would ensure sustainability policies are created and supported by management. The sustainability manager would need to meet with all stakeholders to determine how to allocate resources and prioritize changes. Because the hospital is limited with time and resources, the hospital should focus on reducing its energy consumption rate. Reducing energy usage and installing solar arrays is a major undertaking and may take longer than the changes in the IT network infrastructure or the remodeling of the emergency room waiting room. Therefore, management should initiate the energy efficiency audit to create a baseline on the hospitals energy usage. If the little improvement can be made, then the management should allow the solar installation process to begin. In parallel, the changes to the IT network and the project changes to the waiting room remodeling can occur. Conclusion As a facility that consumes a high level of energy, the focus that management should have is energy consumption reduction. Changes in how the hospital operates can start with creating energy policies and working on changing the culture of the hospital environment. Initiating energy audits to identify areas of opportunities such as the IT infrastructure and how the facility projects are implemented can lead to an energy efficient, green, and sustainable hospital. References About.com. (n.d.). Introduction to Pop. Retrieved from http://inventors.about.com/od/sstartinventions/a/soft_drink.htm The Coca Cola Company. (2010). Environmental Initiatives. Retrieved from http://www.thecoca-colacompany.com/citizenship/community_initiatives.html