气候变化对医疗保健的影响和医疗保健对气候变化的影响是密不可分的. At the same time, 卫生系统正被迫加强以应对频繁和严重的天气事件, they must also seek solutions to curtail their significant carbon emissions.
The importance of achieving each of these goals grows by the day. 气候变化造成的极端天气和健康危机的频率和严重程度都在增加. Concurrently, the U.S. health sector is responsible for an estimated 8.5% of national carbon emissions, the highest rate among industrialized countries.
Sustainable Solutions You Can Trust
With 127 Sustainability Certified projects to its credit, 澳门足彩app的团队由100多名经过认证的专业人士和我们具有可持续发展经验的设计和施工人员组成，他们协同工作，确保您的可持续发展目标得到满足和超越. Utilizing cutting-edge technologies, tools and knowledge, 我们的团队开发和实施高效和具有成本效益的策略，在预算范围内最大限度地减少项目对环境的影响.
Hospital systems are being urged to reduce emissions by 50% by 2030, reach net zero by 2050, including supply chain emissions, and publicly report on their progress. 行业领导者表示，他们预计即将到来的监管改革可能会将医疗保险和医疗补助报销与卫生系统的能源效率联系起来, 就像《澳门皇冠app》将报销与患者结果和患者满意度挂钩一样.
As the industry searches for solutions, 澳门足彩app Healthcare’s consultants, designers and construction professionals often discuss clients’ environmental challenges and goals. After many conversations, 他们发现，必要的第一步是定义相关术语，并了解它们何时重叠，何时不重叠.
Step 1: Defining the Terms
有必要了解四个主要术语，每个术语在医疗保健环境中都至关重要:
- Resiliency in the design, 设施的建设和运行是指能够承受中断并继续有效运行的能力. This can include events caused by natural disasters, power outages, equipment failures, or other unexpected events. 弹性设施可以快速从中断中恢复并保持高水平的性能.
- Sustainability 说明系统或过程在不消耗资源或不造成负面环境影响的情况下维持或持续一段时间的能力. In other words, it is about balancing economic, social, 以及环境方面的考虑，以创建一个能够长期持续发展的系统.
- Decarbonization refers to the process of reducing the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere. CO2 is a greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming and climate change. Decarbonization often involves reducing the use of fossil fuels, a significant source of CO2 emissions, and increasing the use of renewable energy sources that do not produce CO2 when used.
- Net zero 指排放到大气中的温室气体(ghg)数量与从大气中清除的等量温室气体数量达到平衡. 实现温室气体净零排放的目标是稳定大气中温室气体的浓度，限制气候变化的程度.
“We need to level-set at the beginning,” said Kevin Meek, 澳门足彩app Vice President of Advisory Services. “In my experience, in healthcare, the term sustainability is used, and people think, ‘How do we respond when a hurricane rolls in? I need to make sure we've got generators and provisions.’ No. That’s resiliency.
“I think we can help by delineating which conversation we're having. There is the resiliency conversation. Then there's sustainability, and then there’s the reduction process. We need to work with the project owner so that everyone understands the goal. The approach to each of those can be drastically different.”
While each is a distinct concept, they can also be viewed as complementary and can relate functionally to the others. Accordingly, healthcare facilities can be designed and constructed to meet resiliency, sustainability and decarbonization goals.
The Intersection of Building Goals
This is particularly true in the case of energy consumption and efficiency. 在设施能源供应中断期间保持可居住性是弹性的一个基本方面, and a National Resources Defense Council report 国家表示，实现脱碳所需的主要工具也是可居住性的关键.
- Reducing heat loss and gain by improving the building envelope.
- 使用高效的电热泵来加热空间和水(安装和操作更便宜，如果外壳很紧的话效果更好).
- Storing energy by pre-heating or pre-cooling water and buildings themselves.
- Enabling demand flexibility for appliances, often automated and controlled via the Internet to reduce energy use when the grid is dirty.
- 考虑峰值条件而不是通常的设计条件，以保持低成本的脱碳和高可靠性.
- Adding solar Photovoltaic (PV) system to the building. PV is useful for decarbonization and often even more valuable for habitability. Also, providing battery storage for PV reduces reliance on the grid during interruptions.
- Purchasing green power or tying into local/community solar or microgrids.
- 根据设计意图，对能源和水系统以及建筑围护结构进行调试，以验证建筑的运行.
Other areas of intersection include:
- Climate Risk Assessment: Determining potential risks from climate change, including rising temperatures and an increase in natural disasters, such as hurricanes, storm surges, droughts and wildfires, and developing design solutions intended to address these risks.
- Site Location: The location of healthcare facilities is critical. 除了定位设施以最大限度地进入当地社区并缩短关键/紧急运输时间外, 设施应远离洪涝区，朝向有利于采光和节能的方向.
- Water conservation: 保健设施也可以设计成使用低流量管道装置来节约用水, 灰水系统和雨水收集利用自然条件来减少设施的用水量和当地水资源的负担.
- Materials selection: Sustainable sourcing, such as choosing durable, low-maintenance, and locally sourced materials, can help reduce the facility’s environmental impact. 使用回收材料或回收含量高的材料也有助于实现净零排放. 选择挥发性有机物(VOCs)含量低的材料，可以改善室内环境的空气质量, reducing health-related issues associated with the building itself.
Finding Environmentally Sound Solutions
“Coming out of the COVID era and hearing about budget pinches, health systems want a resilient building. 他们想要一个多功能的建筑，”医疗保健设计工程总监Bryan Smith说. “They want flexibility to accommodate all sorts of different scenarios. But they have to do it within budget constraints.”
There are no blanket solutions. Each geographic location is unique, as is each facility. Designated by Engineering News-Record (ENR) as a top green design and construction firm, 澳门足彩app与全国各地的卫生系统合作，以解决广泛的复原力和环境目标.
“We have done alternate energy,” Smith said. “We have done rainwater capture. We’ve addressed resiliency with different selections of equipment and configurations. With owners trying to implement it on an existing fleet, every situation is very different, and that’s before you get into coastal applications versus mountain applications.
“People want a resilient building. They want a versatile building. They want flexibility to accommodate all kinds of different scenarios. We work with them, to reach resiliency and sustainability measures that are functional and cost-effective.”
Contact 澳门足彩app Healthcare to discuss realistic strategies for addressing your health system’s environmental goals.
