Promotion of Sustainable Green Hospital Initiatives-

2014 International Environment-Friendly Hospital Team

Work Best Practice Award

Faced with the impact of climate change on human health, hospitals adopting environment-friendly initiatives can not only reduce medical resource consumption, but also protects and improves the health of patients, family members and employees. The World Health Organization (WHO) also called on healthcare institutions to take lead in global environment-friendly and carbon reduction initiatives.

To encourage and recognize domestic and foreign medical institutions to promote environment-friendly and sustainable actions, the Health Promotion Administration (HPA) organized the “2014 International Environment-Friendly Hospital Team Work Best Practice Award”, encouraging hospitals and healthcare services to actively address impacts of climate change and to facilitate exchange of best practice examples. The competition was open to foreign and domestic hospitals, and after evaluation by an international team of judges, five hospitals from Taiwan were selected: they are Taiwan’s Taichung Tzu Chi Hospital, Taoyuan Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, the Kaohsiung Municipal Siaogang Hospital, MacKay Memorial Hospital, and E-Da Hospital. The winners were recognized at the Pre-Conference on HPH and Environment during the 23rd International HPH Conference on June 10th, 2015. Dr. Li-Hui Yu, Deputy Director-General of the Health Promotion Administration, presented the awards to hospital representatives, and further encouraged more hospitals to support green and sustainable healthcare – protecting the Earth while saving lives.

Below are short summaries of the winning hospital’s achievements in green initiatives:

1. The Implementation of Building and Energy Management System Optimizes Energy-Saving Practices.
(Taichung Tzu Chi Hospital)
Taichung Tzu Chi Hospital officially started running its new medical building on August, 2011. All facilities were operating under the central monitoring system, which observed the weather, levels of activity in the hospital and types of medical equipment. The BEMS at Taichung Tzu Chi Hospital reduced 42% of operating time among 140 AHUs in the building. Consequently, 21420 kWh of power is saved daily and about 3,134 metric tons of CO2 emission is reduced. From November 2012 to December 2014, 60790 metric tons of rainwater was collected and used in garden irrigation in the hospital. Recycled water was used in public toilets, which replaced an average of 2,786 metric tons tap water per month. 540 faucets were modified to economize water usage (about 42% of all faucets in the hospital), which reduced 2849 metric tons of tap water. A total of 57442 metric tons of water was saved in 2013.



2.Saving Energy and Carbon Reduction(Taoyuan Chang Gung Memorial Hospital, Chang Gung Medical Foundation)
Taoyuan Chang Gung Memorial Hospital is situated in Guishan District of Taoyuan City. Since its founding the hospital has always aimed at the goals of contributing to community and fulfilling society responsibility. Within the hospital, the ideas of energy conservation are inherent and generally agreed everywhere. By promoting "Energy Conservation and Carbon Reduction in Our Actions", the goal of an environmentally-friendly green hospital is achievable. Chang Gung Memorial Hospital has enthusiastically participated in all projects of energy conservation, in the hope of contributing to saving energy.
Taoyuan Chang Gung Memorial Hospital has incorporated the ideas and measures of energy conservation into its design since theist early establishment, such as central monitoring system, ice storage air conditioning system, off-peak power usage, adoption of micro-reflective glass in large transparent windows, inverter air conditioning system, tunnel washers in the laundry department and T5 electronic high efficiency lamps. These pieces of equipment provide our medical environment with the warm and comfortable atmosphere. In 2013, the hospital achieved energy conservation of 26.9 KLOE (0.39%) compared with 2010 baseline data, and reduced carbon emissions by 701 tons. Between 2011 and 2013, the amount of waste reduced was 3.23%; more than 41% of average annual water recovery was achieved; green purchase amount to $ 98,189,598 NT; amount of resources recovered was 622,850kg.



3.Creating a green environment start with Kaohsiung Municipal Siaogang Hospital
(Kaohsiung Municipal Siaogang Hospital)
Kaohsiung Municipal Siaogang Hospital (KMSH) is located in Siaogang District that encompasses three major industrial zones in southern Kaohsiung. The annual energy consumption and carbon dioxide emission are top-ranked in the entire Taiwan. The hospital was designed and built by the, Kaohsiung City Government’s Department of Health. The building was built with green or energy-saving materials and preserved with the concept of sustainable design. Since the beginning of the hospital’s operation in 1998, the hospital became the first Chinese hospital in the world to establish the first filmless imaging transfer system (PACS). The KMSH’s Energy Saving Committee was established in 2001, which oversees the energy management and carbon reduction in our daily life. In 2005, we built an Art Gallery and grass planting activities, gradually promoting low-carbon vision in southern Kaohsiung. We promote green tableware habit in the whole hospital, which is equivalent to reducing 423,612kg og carbon emission annually, and also equals to planting 38,510 trees. We organize regular second-hands goods for charity bazaar, and supply materials or equipment to domestic needs and foreign countries. By doing so, we reuse resources, and the incomes from Charity bazaar (up to NT200,000 per year) were used as medical resources for the underprivileged, lowering entry barriers to healthcare service. We also received many awards from the Health Promotion Administration and health bureau. The hospital was recognized with the merit ward of health promotion hospital. Being a global citizen, KMSH would like to contribute to Taiwanese society by becoming a healthy, Low-carbon, and green resource hospital.



4.Love as a Starting Point, Journey towards a Green Hospital
(MacKay Memorial Hospital)
MacKay Memorial Hospital was established in the name of God; it is committed to continuing Dr. Mackay’s spirit of dedication, endeavoring to spread the love of Christ through medical evangelism. In recent years, environmental protection and sustainability have become important concerns. MacKay Memorial Hospital wishes to extend the love and care we have for our patients to include caring for our environment. Through reformation of the organization, introduction of new strategies, and implementation of environmental projects, we hope to apply the ideas of a green enterprise in a systemic and feasible way. In the effort to encourage energy-saving and carbon reduction, aside from promoting the 5R principles, we also attach great importance to providing incentives for our staff, thus adding the “6R” - Employees Reward.
After the implementation of many new strategies in promoting ISO50001, our EUI has been reduced by 4.1%; energy usage has been decreased by an average of 12.07KWH/m2; the water conservation in Tamshui branch reaches 4,177 m3. After the introduction of paperless technology, at least 5.53 million pages of A4-sized paper has been saved. Due to the effective application of the recycling policy, biomedical waste has been reduced by 1.9%. The hospital also expects to engage in dialogue with the society accordingly. In 2014, MacKay started to publish a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and sustainability report, all the while working to obtain external accreditation to demonstrate the determination of MacKay Memorial Hospital in the pursuit of enterprise sustainability, energy saving, carbon reduction and environment protection.



5.Creation of Indoor and Outdoor Environments with Energy Efficiency and Greenery in a Healthcare Setting
(E-Da Hospital, E-Da Medical Foundation, Taiwan, R.O.C.)
Based on the concept of health care reinforcement and environmental friendliness, E-Da hospital was built with the aim of providing an excellent, first-class international medical center with a well-preserved, natural, healthy and comfortable environment for our patients, Accordingly, in compliance with the government policy on energy efficiency and carbon reduction, not only has the hospital incorporated the concept of environmental preservation into its architectural designs, it also promoted greenery for environmental improvement. The hospital adopted energy-saving illumination devices to save annual power consumption up to 1,820,740 kWh and curtails CO2 emission by 1,157 tons; recycled water and adopted water saving-efficient toilet & shower utilities to reduce annual water consumption by 119,160 tons, and reduced CO2 emission by 24.39 tons; established a self-developed central monitoring system for overseeing air-conditioning and other power usage inside the hospital to cut down annual power consumption by 4,721,843 kWh and CO2 emission by 3,542 tons. Moreover, “energy use intensity” (EUI), which is an assessment of energy use per unit area in a building, was used to monitor the efficiency of our energy-saving policy. In 2013, the EUI of E-Da Hospital was 168.1 kWh/m2‧Y, which is substantially lower than the average of 211.2 kWh/m2‧Y among other district hospitals. Moreover, the Department of Community Medicine also plays an important role in constantly advocating the concept of household energy conservation and environmental protection through the organization of regular educational activities for the general public.