"Green” Hospital Technology Reduces Environmental Impact

An environmentally friendly hospital approach focused on improving energy efficiency, optimizing resource consumption, and increasing the share of renewable energy generation is contributing to a significant reduction of the carbon footprint.

The Green technology portfolio, developed by General Electric (GE) Healthcare (Chalfont St. Giles, United Kingdom) is aimed at helping healthcare and hospital administrators improve the consistency, quality, and efficiency of patient care. Among such solutions for green hospitals are the Jenbacher combined heat and power (CHP) system, which utilizes the waste heat incurred during engine operation to generate overall plant efficiencies of more than 90%; a suite of energy efficient equipment, such as in the area of medical imaging; and advanced energy management systems. A range of energy-efficient lighting products is also being developed to reduce energy consumption and operating costs.

The deployment of advanced information technology (IT) is another area where hospitals today can reduce environmental impact. The IT portfolio provided by GE Healthcare provides a technology infrastructure and task management capabilities that range from business software that helps improve efficiency and enhance the patient experience, to clinical and imaging solutions that help drive greater productivity and boost patient safety.

One such product is active technology partnership (ATP), which enables hospitals to monitor flexibly equipment budget over a long period of time while managing technology obsolescence through planned equipment renewals. The ATP platform provides the roadmap for clinical continuity and financial predictability, establishing a long-term partnership that can help hospitals adapt to the changes of the healthcare environment and leverage GE Healthcare's medical equipment services to their advantage. GE Healthcare highlighted these and other medicine-related technologies and services at the Hospital Build Asia 2010 exhibition and conference, held during May 2010 in Singapore.

"Through the ATP platform, we are able to offer our customers a strategic partnership that both focuses on the lifecycle management of a hospital's medical equipment and provides the operational structure to sustain this long-term equipment roadmap over time,” said Tommy Tan, government relations director for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) at GE Healthcare. "It caters to the specific needs of our partners and it has the potential to deliver a range of innovative and pragmatic solutions to allow hospitals to focus more on clinical service delivery. ATP may also be used in a green hospital project as one of several modules to reduce the number of systems used, thus reducing energy consumption.”

Hospitals typically have a large environmental footprint, consuming as much as three times the energy of a similarly sized commercial building. This has prompted hospitals around the world to look for ways to reduce energy and resource consumption by building more environmentally friendly facilities, while continuing to deliver high levels of patient care.

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