Sustainability Program

By Amanda Jepson | Categories: | Comments Off on Sustainability Program

The Ohio State University has been working on a sustainability program for decades. In 2015, formal goals were set to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, and a number of other resource stewardship goals to achieve by 2025: increasing locally sourced food, increasing ecosystem services, reducing potable water consumption, reaching zero waste, increasing energy efficiency, and developing standards for preferred products. The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center developed a formal program around 2017, and then joined the Health Care Climate Council and the Health Care Climate Challenge in 2020 to support its sustainability goals.

The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center is implementing multiple sustainability strategies through a small team of dedicated employees. The sustainability program encompasses all medical center facilities and integrates the university resource stewardship goals into all we do such as obtaining supplies, diverting waste, and tracking energy use with smart meters that can obtain real-time data on utility usage throughout the buildings. The medical center also prioritizes sustainability in the operating room by switching to a lower greenhouse gas emissions alternative anesthesia and incorporating low-flow strategies and diverting clinical plastics. The medical center has purchases a bedpan made of 90 percent recycled materials, integrated through their sustainable procurement guidelines.

The Ohio State University partners with ENGIE North America, a commercial electricity provider, and Axium, a manager of infrastructure assets to increase energy efficiency. In fiscal year 2022, all medical center-owned buildings decreased energy use intensity by 4.7 percent from fiscal year 2020 and approximately 29 percent of the electricity supplied to the medical center at main campus and off-site medical center locations was carbon neutral with renewable energy credits. OSU also has adapted the College of Medicine’s curriculum to include sustainability education.

Through green building efforts, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center is recycling 98 percent of the waste materials from an under-construction inpatient hospital. The smart meters installed in the buildings have helped the sustainability team identify reduction strategies, culminating in a 5 percent reduction from fiscal year 2020.The medical center has reduced desflurane in the operating room by 48 percent, resulting in nearly $300,000 in cost savings over three years.