Sustainability Paradigm in Hospitals: Usage of Renewable Energy

The essay provides an insight into sustainability paradigm in the context of resource use in professional workplace. The discussion revolves around the usage of renewable energy as an energy resource in hospitals. It describes the scenario, stakeholders involved, definition of sustainability and the three pillars and sustainability concerns from environmental, social and economic point along with recommendations.

Running head: ACADEMIC ESSAY
Academic Essay
Name of the Student:
Name of the University:
Author Note:

1ACADEMIC ESSAY
Introduction:
The essay aims at provides an insight into sustainability paradigm in the context of
resource use in professional workplace. In this essay, discussion about sustainability revolves
around the usage of renewable energy as an energy resource in hospitals. The renewable energy
is generated through renewable natural resources like water flows, sun, wind, geothermal heat
and organic matter. Hospitals in Australia are increasingly using the renewable energy for not
only ensuring sustainability through reduction of carbon emissions but at the same time manage
utility cost. The essay provides a description of the scenario, the stakeholders involved,
definition of sustainability and the three pillars and sustainability concerns from environmental,
social and economic point along with recommendations.
Discussion:
According to Kolokotsa, Tsoutsos & Papantoniou (2012), hospitals not only have a heavy
demand for energy but also contributes to emissions due to its 24/7 operation. The energy
requirements of the hospitals are thus higher in comparison to commercial buildings. Therefore,
the hospitals require higher quality and guaranteed supplies of electricity. Besides, higher
proportion of the ageing buildings makes the hospitals amongst one of the least energy efficient
buildings. There has thus been various energy saving measures that hospitals could adopt for its
better functioning. An increasing number of hospitals are shifting to the green energy derived
from the non-polluting, renewable, non-carbon sources like the solar, wind and the hydroelectric
projects having a lower environmental impact. The increasing cost of energy along with the
tightening regulations on the carbon emissions has made renewable energy a viable option for
the hospitals. Renewable energy is generated using the renewable resources like the geothermal

2ACADEMIC ESSAY
heat, organic matter, sun, wind and the water flows (Twidell & Weir, 2015). The renewable
energy aids the hospitals in reducing the cost of energy and thereby hedging against the increase
in price. However, the benefits of using such energy are far beyond bottom line. The use of
renewable energy source also enables the hospitals in standing out amongst the peers. It shows
the commitment of the hospital towards the community health and leadership towards the
environmental stewardship. Use of the renewable energy source reduces the impact of the
hospital operations on the emissions of the power plant thereby having positive impact on the
environmental health. Various stakeholders also make a contribution towards the process. It is
therefore necessary to identify the stakeholders involved.
There are primary as well the secondary stakeholders. The primary stakeholders’ are
those who remain directly involved in the process and include the government department and
the agencies, state regulators, energy institutions, consumer organizations and the representative
groups. On the other hand, the secondary stakeholders are those who remain effected by
outcomes but does provide an input or have interest in the procedure. These include patients,
hospital staffs, society, government and the Non Governmental Organizations (NGO).
Flint (2013) stated that communities faces enormous challenges in terms of the depletion
of the social, economic and the environmental resources. As the resources remain interconnected
so there exists no simple solution. Therefore, acting on independencies of social, economic and
the environmental elements requires adoption of newer means through undertaking systematic
action. This ensures the creation of future where nature and human society can not only coexist
but also mutually benefit thereby eliminating the abuse of natural resources. Thus, sustainability
is an aspect that focuses on meeting the current needs without negotiating the ability of the future
generations in meeting the needs. The theory of sustainability is based on the three pillars

3ACADEMIC ESSAY
concerning the economic, social and environmental viewpoint often addressed as the profits,
planet and the people.
However, according to Vitale (2016), the global energy scenario started with the global
consumption of energy still it is sustained by the fossil sources. Comparison of the trends of the
renewable resources with the traditional ones slower growth especially when there is a need for
lessening the emissions of carbon dioxide. Therefore technologies are presented in reference to
storage systems for mitigating the renewable energy produced by the wind plants and the
photovoltaic cells. Hence, the push for the aspect of sustainability has become evident in the
areas of the energy generation where the aim has been in finding newer deposits for outpacing
further depletion of the existing reserves. Some energy companies however publicly state their
goal of energy generation from sources such as the wind, hydro and the solar power thereby
defining sustainability.
Cioruța, Lauran, Puppala & Coman (2018), put forward the idea that sustainable
development has been the commonly used phrase in reference to environment. It refers to the
development that meets the present needs without any comprise with the abilities of the future
generations in meeting their needs that protected the resources.
The environmental pillar of the sustainability gets most attention and is focused on the
reduction of carbon footprints, water usage, packaging waste and the overall environmental
impact. Organizations that have an advantageous impact on planet also have a positive financial
influence. For instance, lessening the amounts used for packaging leads to the reduction of
overall spending on the materials. Food production and mining that has an obvious
environmental impact approaches the environmental pillar through reducing and bench marking.

4ACADEMIC ESSAY
However, the challenges with environmental pillar lie in the presence of other externalities.
Besides the combined cost of wastewater, carbon dioxide, waste and land reclamation becomes
difficult for the organizations to calculate since the firms does not always keep a tab of the
amount of waste produced. Thus, it becomes necessary for implementing benchmarking for
quantifying the externalities to track and report the progress in a meaningful manner.
Murphy (2017) stated that the social pillar of sustainable development bears relations to
the environmental pillar. There exist four social concepts that links it to the environmental
imperatives. The concepts however include equity, public awareness, social cohesion and
participation. Thus, the social pillar can undergo expansion for the inclusion of the international,
environmental and intergenerational dimensions. The framework is often used for getting an
overview as to how the organization and state understands the social pillar along with the
environmental links.
Rebitzer, Hunkeler & Jolliet (2018) states that life cycle cost of the goods along with the
cost of the supply chain of the industrial applications are rising gradually. Various industrial
sectors like the electronics, automotive and primary materials have undertaken various programs
for co-coordinating the downstream and the upstream activities for reducing the environmental
burden. Moreover, there has been a rising need for passing on information about the material,
product and the flow of energy along supply chain along with a demand for providing data on
use and the end of life phases of the services and goods. Thus, it is necessary to adopt a
sustainable approach in assessing, analyzing such flows from economic as well as environmental
perspectives. This is especially required in the established large scale industries where the
suppliers face immense challenge in providing environmental information and comprehensive

5ACADEMIC ESSAY
cost. Thus, the economic pillar of the sustainability is concerned with making the business feel
that they exist on firm grounds. Hence, a business must be profitable to become sustainable.
StigkaaJohn, Paravantis & Mihalakakou (2014) put forward the acceptance of the
renewable energy as the replacement of the fossils fuels in the production of electricity. They
also provided an insight into how the local communities preferred undertaking investments in
renewable energy along with their perceptions of using the newer energy technologies into their
daily lives.
The use of renewable energy in hospitals not only transforms it into a healthier one but
amplifies the commitments towards the public health. This also helps in reducing the expenses of
energy consumption and mitigating the risk of future energy price. Hospitals can however attain
sustainability through the use of renewable energy by considering the certain recommendations.
This includes following an imperative that is mission driven, considerations of bottom line and
the focus on the energy efficiency.
The mission driven imperative of hospitals implies that there exists an implicit obligation
for the healthcare in reducing emissions with the help of large scale renewable energy derived
from the sun, wind or water. This helps in addressing the concerns and in reaching the levels of
sustainability. This step is necessary since electricity generation emits the largest amount of
carbon causing pollution thereby accounting for close to twenty nine percent of the green house
gas. Healthcare industry however contributes close to 10 percent of the green house gas
emissions.
It is also recommended that hospital can attain sustainability by understanding the fact
that hospitals requires close to 2.5 times energy intensive compared to the commercial buildings.

6ACADEMIC ESSAY
The electricity consumption of hospitals thus stands at 8 percent. Hence, adoption of renewable
energy source will not only help in addressing the concern but help attain sustainability through
reduced mission of harmful pollutants.
There are even recommendations that the healthcare organizations should aim at
reducing the footprint of the greenhouse gas along with the reduction of long-term cost and the
risk of procurement of electricity. Thus, by focusing on the measures of energy efficiency along
with leaner construction of energy not only helps in reducing the energy use but also the cost. It
has been found the consumption of the remaining energy exposes the hospitals in providing long
term price risk, cost increases and pollution resulting from the emission of carbon emission.
However, the purchase of the innovative power house solutions and the access of renewable
energy can benefit the market economy of hospitals in a cost effective manner thus paving the
way for the attainment of sustainability. The availability of wind energy as one of the cheapest
form of the electric generation helps the hospitals in attaining attractive and sustainable solution
through adoption.
Conclusion:
On a concluding note, it can be said that renewable energy holds accountability for a
powerful energy source in the hospitals. The report provides an insight into sustainability and
also puts forward a discussion on how the various renewable sources contribute in the attainment
of sustainability. However, renewable energy requires the accurate mix of the market conditions,
policy support from the government and availability of the natural resource for becoming
economically viable and sustaining the enhanced popularity and the growth.

7ACADEMIC ESSAY
References:
Cioruța, B., Lauran, A., Puppala, A., & Coman, M. (2018). From Human-Environment
Interaction to Environmental Informatics (II): the Sustainability evolution as requirement of
Knowledge-based Society. Retrieved from
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/32601594
Kolokotsa, D., Tsoutsos, T., & Papantoniou, S. (2012). Energy Conservation Techniques for
Hospital Buildings. Advances In Building Energy Research, 6(1), 159-172.
Murphy, K. (2017). The social pillar of sustainable development: A literature review and
framework for policy analysis. Sustainability: Science, Practice, And Policy, 8,(1), 15-29.
Rebitzer, G., Hunkeler, D., & Jolliet, O. (2018). The Economic Pillar of Sustainability:
Methodology and Application to Wastewater Treatment. Environmental Progress, 24(4), 241-
249.
StigkaaJohn, E., Paravantis, J., & Mihalakakou, G. (2014). Social acceptance of renewable
energy sources: A review of contingent valuation applications. Renewable And Sustainable
Energy Reviews, 32, 100-106.
Twidell, J., & Weir, T. (2015). Renewable energy resources. Routledge.
Vitale, G. (2016). Renewable energies – Future perspectives. Renewable Energy Environmental
And Sustainability, 1(17), 1-6. Retrieved from
https://www.rees-journal.org/articles/rees/full_html/2016/01/rees160035-s/rees160035-s.html