IFHE NEWS
Comment from the IFHE President ‘Energy independence’ key in combating climate change
The latest report from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the United Nations body for scientific assessments of climate change, shows
that ‘climate change is a growing threat to the health of the planet’. The extreme phenomena already under way (melting glaciers, extreme droughts, widespread fires, floods, water and food shortages etc.) raise increasingly worrying questions around the severity of the phenomena, their unpredictability, and potential irreversibility. In Antarctica, it was recently reported
– at 3,234 metres above sea level – that temperatures were almost 40 °C above their normal temperatures in mid-March, while at the North Pole, exceptionally warm temperatures – of 18-20 °C above average for the period – were recorded, with consequent melting of the ice.
Need for ‘energy independence’ As we know, energy independence – achieved through reduced consumption, and a parallel rapid increase in the availability and use of renewable energy – is the only sustainable solution to underpin not only healthcare, but the entire social system. The elimination of fossil fuels from the energy system is possible – in a relatively short time, especially if led by a reduction in energy demand for the heating and cooling of buildings, through the electrification of both public and private transport, and the recovery and recycling of mineral resources, which are used in a wide range of fields – from education to the circular economy.
Priority must therefore be given to the
production of renewable energy from technologies whose efficiency is known and proven, disregarding inefficient, non-truly renewable, or untested – in an industrial context – technologies. Such actions contribute positively to reducing air pollution, with added benefits to health, as well as mitigating climate change, and are feasible, without being too time-consuming or expensive.
Equivalent to the fifth most polluting country According to Health Care’s Climate Footprint, a study by Health Care Without Harm – a global organisation promoting
sustainability in healthcare, emissions from health systems across the world account for 4.4% of the global output. If the healthcare sector were a country, it would be the world’s fifth most polluting, after the US, China, India, and Russia – equivalent to 514 coal-fired power plants. Emissions coming directly from hospitals constitute 17% of total emissions, while indirect emissions from the purchase of electricity account for 12% of the total. The largest proportion, 71%, is mainly linked to the healthcare supply chain – namely the production, transport, use, and disposal of goods and services that the sector consumes. The energy consumption of hospitals must, therefore – as much as it can – be subject to energy efficiency measures that reduce the direct and indirect emissions of the structure and services. Hospitals are in fact becoming ‘4.0 hospitals’; i.e. entering a space where care encounters a large reservoir of data and information, with technology capable of interpreting and using the data. From an energy standpoint, this essentially means conceiving and organising the hospital in an intelligent and systemic way, ensuring high efficiency, and managing energy consumption, while ensuring that, as far as possible, patients and staff benefit from an environment and conditions suited to their particualr needs. For this reason, the ‘4.0 hospital revolution’ is one of the main roads towards the required energy transition.
A changing paradigm The hospital of the future is therefore changing its paradigm. The dialogue between designers, engineers, architects, doctors, and Energy managers, will have to be further strengthened in order to create energy-efficient hospital structures capable of hosting useful technologies that medical staff can work seamlessly with. If existing structures can be changed, they will have to adhere to energy-saving objectives. The models already exist, using technology and digitalisation to achieve decarbonisation objectives, and to reduce ecological footprint. Of course the well-being of patients
remains the focal point for hospitals, and the care enviroment is strongly impacted by the quality of the spaces – with good lighting, excellent ventilation, and optimal levels of temperature and humidity, all key.
Against this backdrop, however, we must heed the warnings of science and nature, and exploit emerging and sustainable technologies to better preserve our working and living environment.
Daniela Pedrini
References 1 IPCC Sixth Assessment Report: Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation and Vulnerability. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, 4 April 2022,
https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg2/’
2 Fell H-J. A massive expansion of domestic Renewable energy stops wars, not just climate change.
energypost.eu online. 28 February 2022. https://tinyurl. com/3r84net4
Experiences shared at Council meeting
“On 25 January this year,” reports the Federation’s President, Daniela Pedrini, “we had an excellent Council meeting, where many of our associations summarised their experiences of the pandemic, the problems encountered, some of the creative solutions deployed, and the lessons learned. As President I was very proud to hear these stories. It is, after all, the raison d’etre of the IFHE to exchange our learnings, share individual and collective experiences, and to acquire the knowledge to better serve our healthcare structures and our members.” The next IFHE Council Meeting will be held on 18 September, 2022 at the Westin Hotel in Toronto, Ontario.
May 2022 Health Estate Journal 19
Courtesy of the IPCC
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