Enigin Update - Hospitals Missing out on Savings from Energy Efficiency
A SURVEY of U.S. healthcare professionals finds a general recognition of the importance and benefits of energy efficiency, there is widespread undervaluing of the energy and cost savings available.
The survey, conducted by the Corporate Realty, Design & Management Institute (CRDMI), looked at the responses to questions about implementation and benefits of hospitals' sustainability initiatives.
At the top level of findings, everyone reported that they believed that energy costs will rise, with some believing energy costs will be double what the U.S. government predicted, but in almost every hospital the survey’s respondents considerably underestimated the amount of money hospitals can save by becoming more energy-efficient.
Two-thirds of respondents said that every dollar a hospital saves on energy equals $10 of revenue and that there's a ten-fold payback on efficiency investments, but the reality is much greater: CRDMI says that revenue boosts are actually $25 per dollar of energy savings.
Respondents were widely pessimistic about how the healthcare industry is performing, with 56 percent believing their industry is performing worse than other industries on sustainability issues, while just 5 percent believed it was performing better.
The survey also revealed that perceived greenwashing, saying you are greener or intend to be than you actually are or will be, in the industry is rampant, with 81 percent believing it is more common now than it was two years ago.
The survey noted that most healthcare purchasers are putting cost before sustainability, by a margin of 83 percent to 7 percent.
Enigin Distributors have been helping healthcare professionals to be able to judge the potential of energy efficiency by installing Enigin Plc's Eniscope Real-time and Analytics system, which shows graphically and clearly where and what can be saved while maintaining services - also showing the financial cost savings to be gained.
