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“The hospital follows the Hippocratic Oath, which states first do no harm,” Nichols said. “By providing a greener workplace, a more sustainable place of healing, we provide the opportunity for our patients to get better in a healing, environmental place that will not cause more problems than what they’re already going through.”
Nichols ran the recycling program in Houston County for 14 years before coming to Gundersen Lutheran.
Through an intensive energy audit later this month, Nichols said, the hospital will be able to know where energy is being used and how that can be reduced. The audit also will help more exactly measure the hospital’s carbon footprint, which they’ve estimated at 50,000 tons of greenhouse gas per year from the use of electricity, natural gas and vehicle fuel.
By the end of 2008, Nichols’ salary for the past three years will have been repaid by savings coming from sustainable projects at the hospital, he said.
“Being green is not just being green,” Nichols said. “It’s also green money.”
Energy-saving fluorescent light bulbs
The hospital sold 10,500 compact fluorescent light bulbs to staff and customers last year. Each bulb can last more than 8,000 hours as opposed to the 1,000 hours of a traditional bulb. The hospital is also replacing its own lighting with CFLs.
ESTIMATED SAVINGS versus an incandescent light bulb: Last around 10 times longer, save $30 over the CFL’s lifetime and use 75 percent less energy
CT cooling that saves on water
Old CT scanners used water to cool the system as it ran. Glycol is now used in a closed loop system.
ANNUAL SAVINGS: 16 million gallons of water
Light-Emitting Diodes
The hospital is replacing fluorescent exit signs, which use about 30 watts of electricity, with LED signs that use about three watts.
PURCHASE: 250 fixtures at $19 each, with a Focus on Energy rebate of $5 each
PAYBACK: 1.4 years
OTHER: Lights guaranteed for 20 years.
Upgraded equipment
The original chillers installed in 1965 and 1967 were replaced in 2007.
ANNUAL ENERGY SAVINGS: 500,000 kilowatt hours
ANNUAL MONEY SAVINGS: $30,000
Lights out
Front advertising light bulbs have been removed from the 98 soda machines on the La Crosse campus.
SAVINGS: 30,000 kilowatt hours, or about $1,800, per year
Hybrid vehicles
The hospital bought its first hybrid car in 2004, now owns four and plans to buy more.
TOTAL SAVINGS: About $50 a week in fuel.
Waste into power
This combined heat and power unit will be installed at City Brewery’s waste water treatment plant. The engine will generate heat and power by burning methane gas that’s currently flared off as waste. The electricity will be sold to Xcel Energy and the heat will be used by the brewery’s digester, making it more efficient.
ANNUAL ENERGY SAVINGS: The Jenbacher engine will produce enough energy per year to offset about 10 percent of the energy used at the hospital’s La Crosse campus.
New coffee pots
New coffee pots use about one third less energy than the old coffee pots.
ALL COFFEE POTS should be replaced by the end of 2008.
Paper recycling saves and pays
The hospital used to pay about $45,000 a year to have its confidential material shredded. Staff now can bring confidential mail and all paper to locked bins at the La Crosse campus; a recycling firm now pays Gundersen Lutheran about $3,000 a year for the materials.
RECYCLED PAPER IN 2006: About 263 tons
SOURCE: Nick Nichols, environmental coordinator, Gundersen Lutheran Medical Center; EnergyStar.gov
