1. Renewable energies in hospitals
Renewable energies in hospitals are increasingly used noadays. Hospitals, health centers, and health systems around the world are joining with cities, businesses, and higher education to increasingly deploy solar, wind, and other sources of clean, renewable energy.
Health facilities are transitioning to 100 percent clean electricity because:
- Renewable energy is healthy energy and protects patients and communities from fossil fuel pollution and climate change.
- Renewable energy can save health facilities money by providing a fixed cost for a long-term energy supply.
- Onsite renewable energy can help a health facility maintain power when extreme weather hits.
2. Solar for health
Renewable energies in hospitals can produce heat and power covering their energy needs. Clinics, maternity wards, operating rooms, medical warehouses, and laboratories rely on electricity to power the lights, refrigerate vaccines, and operate life-saving medical devices. An inability to carry out these essential services puts lives at risk.
All too often, particularly in remote areas, health facilities face significant power shortages. A WHO review revealed that one in four health facilities in sub-Saharan Africa had no access to electricity. Only 28% of health facilities and 34% of hospitals had what could be called “reliable” access to electricity (without prolonged interruptions in the past week).
UNDP’s Solar for Health initiative supports governments to increase access to quality health services through the installation of solar energy photovoltaic systems (PV). These will ensure the constant and cost-effective access to electricity. They will also mitigate the impacts of climate change and advancing multiple Sustainable Development Goals.
https://www.undp-capacitydevelopment-health.org/en/capacities/focus/solar-for-health/
3. World’s largest hospital solar-PV project online now in Amman, Jordan
This week Amman, Jordan-based Philadelphia Solar announced that the 8.2-MW solar PV project that it installed at the Abdali Medical Center in Jordan has entered commercial operation.
The project will enable the medical center to better serve its patients by establishing a reliable source of clean energy. It will cover the center’s consumption of electricity and, as a result, access to a secure energy source. This is a critical component to the hospital’s ability to deliver sustainable and reliable health care, said the company.
4. Inside America’s groundbreaking solar-powered health facility
A California clinic is one of a growing number of healthcare centers looking to achieve energy independence as environmental challenges increase. Ιt is not easy to rattle Rosa Vivian Fernandez. The chief executive of a California healthcare clinic, she sees the harsh realities that the low-income, largely Hispanic community served by the clinic faces every day.
5. World’s largest solar powered hospital opens in Haiti
The world’s largest solar powered hospital has just opened its doors in Haiti. It boasts over 1800 solar panels on its elegant and otherwise, stark, white rooftop. Haiti’s central plateau is riddled with intermittent flows of energy – a fact that derails the possibilities of large-scale healthcare infrastructure. In the specific region of Mirebalais, located 30 miles north of the capital port-au-prince, outages occur for an average of three hours each day. The new hospital Universitaire de Mirebalais will cover an area of 205,000 square feet. With 300 beds it will assist in correcting a national healthcare system with scarce or disparate resources.
Most impressively, however, is the employment of design solutions in the building system as a whole, wherein the building is set to generate more energy than the hospital will consume. Even before the complex officially opened, the German-supplied solar panels reportedly produced 139 megawatt hours of electricity- enough to offset 72 tons of coal. The architecture is solving myriad problems and composed such that it provides rather than garners resources. The surplus electricity will be injected back into Haiti’s national grid, a testament to the ability of the built form to create a sustainable system for survival.
More info at: https://www.designboom.com/architecture/worlds-largest-solar-powered-hospital-opens-in-haiti/
6. Is Renewable Energy a Realistic Option for Hospitals?
A growing number of healthcare centers are shifting from fossil fuels to renewable energy as energy costs continue to rise and the government tightens the regulations on carbon emissions. Renewable energy refers to energy produced from natural resources including wind, sunlight, geothermal and biomass. Hospitals use around two and one-half times the power consumed by the average commercial building. They are, therefore, in a position to save more on energy costs by adopting renewable energy.
Pros of renewable energy in hospitals
1. Reduced energy costs
2. Environmental conservation
3. Stable energy sources
Cons of renewable energy in hospitals
- High initial investment
- Unable to produce enough energy
- Not available everywhere
- Vulnerable
