Demonstrating its commitment to be a complete solutions provider of healthcare systems, GE Healthcare’s green hospital approach is focused on improving energy efficiency, optimizing resource consumption and increasing the share of renewables in energy generation for a significant reduction of carbon footprint.
The healthcare technology major is also able to leverage the breakthrough innovations of its global research centres to develop leading-edge green hospital concepts. The green hospital efforts allow to reduce energy and water use and costs. It helps to hedge against resource scarcity and price increases, enhance patient and staff productivity, promotes leaner, more efficient workflow, maintains air quality through solutions which are globally certified to improve operations and reduce expenses.
The company’s broad-based technologies offer a portfolio of solutions for green hospitals, including the Jenbacher CHP system, which utilizes the waste heat incurred during engine operation to generate overall plant efficiencies of more than 90 percent; a suite of energy efficient equipment, such as in the area of medical imaging; and advanced energy management systems. As lighting is one of the critical factors to be taken into consideration at many hospitals, GE Healthcare is showcasing a range of energy-efficient lighting products to reduce energy consumption and operating costs.
In May, the company showcased its wide range of medical-related technologies and services at the Hospital Build Asia 2010 exhibition and conference, in Singapore.
Some of the company’s efforts in offering green solutions to the healthcare majors include its initiative at Southern Maryland Hospital which was able to save 17 million gallons of water and over $150,000 in water costs annually. Here GE’s water & process technologies offered complete automated water treatment programme incorporating the Aquatrac Smart Flex cooling tower automation and boiler control technology along with ChillerCheck energy monitoring software solution.
GE Energy arm helped North Shore-Long Island Jewish Medical Center save $1 million per year with five-year return on investment (ROI). Here it installed a cogeneration system comprising two 1,425-kW GE Jenbacher J420, GS gas-fueled reciprocating engines.
GE Consumer & Industrial department helped Queen’s Medical Center save $375,000 per year with energy-efficient lighting products.
GE Healthcare helped Gundersen Lutheran optimize design of new critical care hospital where it optimized the design of a new critical-care hospital to improve the patient experience, enhance staff satisfaction and make the best use of nursing resources with lean-based analysis and methods.
The green technology portfolio is aimed at helping healthcare and hospital administrators improve consistency, quality and efficiency of patient care. The market-leading technologies that GE Healthcare is able to deliver have also allowed the company to play a leading role in a growing number of global hospital partnership projects with a sustainability focus.
Economic and social forces are driving the need for hospitals to strengthen their environmental credentials. And as the Asia Pacific region continues to grow in terms of strategic importance in the global healthcare sector, investments in sustainable healthcare infrastructure are set to increase significantly. “This is where, we are working closely with the public and private hospitals in Singapore to establish the blueprint for green hospitals of the future,” said Tommy Tan, Government Relations Director, ASEAN, GE Healthcare.
“There will be an increasing number of healthcare facilities built in Singapore and Southeast Asia over the next five to 10 years, which will in turn lead to a growth in demand for green solutions that help hospitals reduce their carbon footprint and achieve resource optimization, he added.
Hospitals typically have a large environmental footprint, consuming three times the energy of a 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.
“We are able to leverage our experience in developing the best environmental practices that can help reduce energy bills and build more energy efficient lighting systems for the hospitals of the future,” said Malek El-Husseini, Business Development Director, Middle East, at GE Healthcare.
The deployment of advanced IT technologies is another area where hospitals today can reduce environmental impact. GE Healthcare's IT portfolio provide the technology infrastructure and sophisticated task management capabilities to enable more efficient care in the hospital sector. These solutions 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.
Besides the supply of the latest green hospital solutions, GE Healthcare offers advisory services to help hospitals plan their equipment requirements and budgets to deliver the latest technologies and lower TCOs through long- term partnerships.
One of the biggest challenges faced by healthcare providers is in the management of efficiency and effectiveness associated with modern healthcare delivery. GE Healthcare’s Active Technology Partnership (ATP) enables hospitals to flexibly monitor 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 and these long-term partnerships can help hospitals adapt to the changes of the healthcare environment by leveraging GE Healthcare’s medical equipment services.
“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,” explains Tan.