SUSTAINABILITY the environmental benefit, and therefore


the associated indirect reduction in CO2 emissions. A procurement catalogue was therefore developed for the sustainable procurement of medical and nursing consumables, and implemented at all locations. One of the key drivers was the increasing use of disposable consumables, especially in medicine, which had led to a corresponding rise in waste volumes. Another cause of higher waste generation is the shortening lifecycle of many products. For example, 80% of all products are thrown away after a single use, and 99% of materials become waste after six weeks.


Potential within IT Significant potential for a reduction in CO2


sustainability is concerned, the essential topics and goals can be summarised as follows: n Socio-cultural and functional quality (ensuring health and well-being in the building, and a humane, therapeutic environment).


n Economic quality (reducing lifecycle costs, and preserving the value of plant, equipment, and buildings, through space and energy efficiency).


n Ecological quality (protection of the environment, and conservation of natural resources).


Significant changes in the global energy emissions has been identified


in information technology (IT), with a combination of measures contributing to ‘ecologically responsible’ operation of the IT infrastructure: n Environmental aspects such as energy efficiency, ecological footprint during production, and the materials used, etc., are all factored in when purchasing products.


n Ongoing measurement of the energy consumption of the server room equipment in the data centre, focusing on parameters such as utilisation and temperature, demonstrating any potential opportunities for reduced use.


n ‘Eco-friendly’ disposal of old appliances. n Reducing the amount of data in the active system ‘environment’, by deleting and archiving, so as to enable reduced hardware requirements.


n Determining the necessary availability of applications and services in order to be able to define possible periods of non- operation/shutdown of systems.


n Systems with rotating spindles (hard disks) are no longer to be used; only systems with SSDs are to be purchased. Currently, 90% of clients have already converted to SSDs (which require only 25% of the energy of hard disks).


n Physical servers have been ‘migrated’ to virtual environments as far as possible, to minimise the need for hardware servers, and realise synergies.


n All IT systems are regularly checked, maintained, and replaced when necessary, to achieve the optimal efficiency.


Sustainable issues and goals ‘the order of the day’ The focus of all our activities is always on the people being cared for, and the mission to ‘cultivate and tend the Garden of Eden’. In practical terms, the Brothers of Saint John of God are guided by Pope Francis’s environmental encyclical, Laudato si’. This creates the best possible framework conditions for employees to carry out their daily work. As far as


market make the issue of energy a future topic of particular importance for the Brothers of Saint John of God. In addition, reducing energy use is an essential factor for effective environmental protection. To ensure that we do not meet our present needs at the expense of future generations, the Hospitaller Brothers of Saint John of God are constantly working on innovative and sustainable environmental projects.


References 1 Health Care’s Climate Footprint – How the health sector contributes


Daniel Kreuzer


Daniel Kreuzer is a trained electronics and communications technician. He was Technical director of the Order’s hospital in St. Veit/Glan (Carinthia) for almost 20 years before moving to provincial management in 2019. Here he is strategically and organisationally responsible for construction, facilities management, and medical technology. His geographic remit includes facilities in Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Hungary. He has been a Board member of the Austrian Association of Hospital Engineers since 2017.


Albin Knauder


Albin Knauder studied environmental management. From 2004 to 2021 he was head of the Ecology Department of the Kärntner Krankenanstalten Betriebsgesellschaft (KABEG), responsible for waste management, hazardous goods, energy management, wastewater management, environmental management, and EMAS III certifications. He has been the Environmental officer of the Brothers of Saint John of God in Austria for several years. He is a member of both the Working group on ÖNORM S2104 (medical


waste) of the Austrian Standards International, and of the Austrian Waste and Environment Forum, and an experienced lecturer.


Bernhard Zahrl


Bernhard Zahrl has been the head of Corporate Communications for the Austrian Province of the Hospitaller Brothers of Saint John of God since 2001, where he coordinates the work of a team of over 20 colleagues in the individual centres. He is also responsible for a monthly healthcare-related magazine. He has been involved in environmental protection since his youth.


August 2023 Health Estate Journal 27


to the global climate crisis and opportunities for action. Health Care Without Harm / ARUP. September 2019 https://tinyurl. com/2fvmypr7


2 The EU Eco-Management and Audit Scheme (EMAS). European Commission. https://tinyurl.com/ wjacf48y


3 Hospitaller Order of Saint John of God Charter of Hospitality: Caring for the Sick and Needy in the Manner of St John of God. Rome 2000,


4 Encyclical Letter Laudato si’, Vatican 2015 Ch 26. https://www.vatican.va/content/ francesco/en/encyclicals/documents/ papa-francesco_20150524_enciclica- laudato-si.html.


5 These targets are currently based on Scope 1 and 2. The implementation of Scope 3 is being planned.


n Acknowledgment


This article, titled ‘Navigating the road to net-zero CO2


emissions’, first


appeared in the IFHE Digest 2023. HEJ would like to thank the authors, the Digest’s Editor, and the IFHE, for allowing its reproduction in slightly edited form here.


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60  |  Page 61  |  Page 62  |  Page 63  |  Page 64