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.
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 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 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.
Cioru?a, 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. 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 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. 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.
References:
Cioru?a, 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
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