Moving towards carbon-neutral hospitals

Following Tractebel’s study “A vision towards CO2-neutral hospitals,” our energy experts created a tool for hospitals to assess and reduce their carbon footprint.

The resulting “Carbon-Neutral Hospital Scan” is a high-level assessment that begins with benchmarking a hospital’s energy consumption and CO2 footprint against other hospitals. To establish the benchmark, various ENGIE business units provided energy consumption figures of hospitals worldwide. A low-threshold survey with simple yes/no questions provides a snapshot of the hospital’s areas for improvement.

Carbon-Neutral Hospital Scan: survey example

Benchmarking results

Next, a more in-depth approach identifies energy saving measurements on all energy vectors (heat, cold, electricity) and highlights the potential for on-site renewable energy production (heat/cold and green electricity) to reduce the hospital’s carbon footprint. As a summary for each measurement, yearly CO2 reduction, energy cost savings and estimated payback times are listed. The result is a decarbonization plan, with a suggested step-by-step, “waterfall” approach towards a carbon-neutral hospital.

Potential energy savings

“Tractebel is breaking new ground by working with the healthcare sector to help institutions reduce their carbon footprint. The Carbon-Neutral Hospital Scan puts us on the map within the sector as experts in renewable energy production like renewable heat, and cold and green electricity. It also reflects our deep commitment to helping clients in healthcare and beyond to develop strategies that drive our purpose of engineering a carbon-neutral future.” Charlotte Delhuvenne, Tractebel Project Leader/ Energy Efficiency Expert, Belgium