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State and Local Climate and Energy Program

The Chicago Green Health Care Initiative

Chicago, Illinois

Federal Funding: $500,000
Project Timeline: February 2010 – December 2012

Project Summary

Reducing Greenhouse Gas Emissions in the Health Care Sector by Reducing Hospitals' Energy Use

Latest Update.
The City of Chicago has continued working with hospitals to reduce energy consumption. The Chicago Green Healthcare Initiative (CGHI) has grouped hospitals into four main categories to address their varying needs: Academic Medical Centers, Health Systems, Safety Net Hospitals, and Specialty Hospitals. CGHI has worked with 40 hospitals in Chicago to conduct marketing, recruitment, and implement the initiative. Outreach efforts have specifically focused on Safety Net hospitals, those that serve a disproportionate share of Medicaid and charity care patients. As of December 2011, 17 hospitals have signed the CGHI pledge and two hospitals have conducted energy assessments. The Chicago Conservation Corps (C3) has continued to distribute educational materials and outreach tools to inform Chicago residents of the connections between healthy living and climate change impacts. As a result of the Fall 2011 C3 Leadership Training series that focused on topics ranging from urban agriculture to storm water management, 10 C3 Leaders are developing projects to take environmental action in their communities. The City of Chicago will continue to work with hospitals to engage them in CGHI, enter energy data into Portfolio Manager, and offer resources on energy, steam, and waste audits.

EPA estimates that the U.S. health care sector's current annual electricity use of 73 trillion kilowatt-hours (kWh) contributes $600 million per year to health care costs via increased asthma and other respiratory illness. In an effort to address Chicago's health care sector air pollutant emissions, the City of Chicago has partnered with Health Care Without Harm (HCWH) to create the Chicago Green Health Care Initiative (CGHI). The goal of this partnership is to protect public health by significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions (GHGs) and other air pollution generated by energy use in the health care sector. CGHI is assisting seven Tier I hospitals (those implementing top-to-bottom institutional change) in reducing energy use by 5 to 10 percent and helping 15 Tier II hospitals (those addressing only the areas of top priority) to reduce energy use by 5 to 10 percent. Typically, hospital energy use increases by 1 to 3 percent annually. CGHI will also work with Tier III and Tier IV participants (those providing education on emissions reductions, but no direct funding) to improve energy efficiency across the entire Chicago health care sector by 5 to 15 percent. The ultimate goal of the project is to work toward carbon neutral health care facilities.

CGHI recognizes that much of the energy used by the health care sector is unnecessary. U.S. hospitals consume approximately twice the energy as do office buildings of the same size, and roughly twice the energy of comparable health care facilities in European countries. Prior to the creation of CGHI, the City of Chicago worked collaboratively with five research teams to devise a Comprehensive Climate Action Plan (CCAP), which involved generating a GHG emissions profile for Chicago. The resultant emissions profile demonstrated that energy use by hospitals and other buildings is one of the primary contributors to Chicago's GHG emissions.

The environmental impact of Chicago hospitals' energy use is currently being calculated with ENERGY STAR's Portfolio Manager, Dartmouth Hitchcock's Eco-Health Footprint tool, and Practice Greenhealth's (PGH's) Energy Impact Calculator. CGHI also will use PGH's Green Guide for Health Care, which is a comprehensive guide to build and operate energy-efficient and environmentally-responsible health care facilities.

CGHI will help hospitals reduce energy use by 5 to 15 percent by helping facilities to overcome the "capital hurdle" associated with the costs of audits and the purchase and installation of new equipment. This program will provide a model for other facilities around the country; disseminating information on the successes and lessons learned will be one of the key components in the success of CGHI.

Community Characteristics

Population: 2.7 million
Area: 227 square miles
Government Type: City
Community Type: Urban
Median Household Income: $46,767

Program Results/Estimated Results

Goal for GHG and Energy Use Reduction:

5% to 15% across the health care sector
Expected # of Healthcare Facilities Engaged: 111
Health Facilities Briefed (as of 8/10): 25
Educational Workshops (as of 8/10): 1

Media Coverage

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