By Tristan Schwartzman and Jonah Allaben
Hospitals and laboratories emit 4.4 percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions, according to a September 2019 report “Health Care’s Climate Footprint,” from Arup and Health Care Without Harm (HCWH).
Yet in much of Goldman Copeland Consulting Engineers’ work with 18 hospitals, we find that they have extraordinary potential for improved energy efficiency. The opportunity stems from several common characteristics of hospitals, including a tendency toward ad hoc infrastructure upgrades and a need for a wide range of room temperatures, which can be quite wasteful of energy unless well-managed.
