Where Health Systems Find ‘Quick Wins’ for Sustainability
North Carolina-based Novant Health is focused on reducing waste and curbing energy and water use, and continually evaluates the efficiency of the services it provides, says Matt Stiene, senior vice president of construction and facility services for the health system. Monitoring-based commissioning (the use of automated data analytics to continuously monitor system performance) and other building data are used to assess systems at each facility.
“Based on that information, retrofit projects are designed to optimize efficiencies relative to our sustainability goals,” Stiene says. “As we set our near- and long-term environmental sustainability goals, we have identified some quick wins.”
These include low-flow plumbing fixtures to reduce water consumption and waste stream audits to identify opportunities to increase recycling and reduce waste to landfills.