by Rebecca Walker — May 20, 2009—New York City hospitals are responsible for about 1.5 percent of the city’s total greenhouse gas emissions, city officials say, pumping them out at more than double the rate for a commercial office building. Energy is the second only to salaries in cost for hospitals, according to the Greater New York Hospital Association.
Recently, representatives from about 13 hospital systems with 35 hospitals in the city pledged to reduce that carbon footprint, cutting their share of greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent over the next 10 years, said a New York Times article.
In doing so they join Broadway theaters and city universities on a growing list of local institutions assisting the city in meeting its greenhouse gas reduction targets, according to the New York Times.
For the hospitals that signed up, the move means finding ways to significantly cut back on energy use and move to greener sources of energy, beyond merely switching to low energy fluorescent light bulbs.
NewYork-Presbyterian, for example, is installing natural generators at facilities that can be used to produce both electricity and heating, and exploring options for buying the remainder of the electricity from greener sources, like wind farms.
For more information, see the article in the Times.
