Is Your Equipment Running As Efficiently As You Are?

By: Susan Strom

Published: 4/11/2010

Share:

A guide to reducing your energy consumption while remaining on the cutting edge of technology.


The more high tech outpatient surgery becomes, the more electrical outlets you need to accommodate all the devices and equipment used on a single case. Unfortunately, reducing your carbon footprint in the surgical suite isn't as easy as looking for the Energy Star label on the devices you buy and install — for most medical equipment, no such label exists. But if you know what to look for and the right questions to ask, there are ways to reduce your energy consumption while remaining on the cutting edge of technology.

Which devices use the most energy?
There are 2 kinds of energy-sapping equipment used in the surgical setting:

1. Independent consumers. Large pieces of equipment, such as MRI machines or CT scanners, which independently use a lot of energy when they're switched on and working, and also maintain noticeable vampire loads even when they're turned off or in standby mode. There are generally only a few of these types of machines in a single facility, and they aren't in constant use, so their overall impact on a building's energy consumption may be relatively low.

2. Collective consumers. Devices that don't consume a lot of energy on their own, but due to their volume and frequency of use throughout the day, have a large collective impact. Examples include blanket warmers, electric beds and sterilizer cabinets.

When targeting areas for improvement in energy efficiency, you may want to start by reviewing this second category of devices. Consumer equipment like microwaves and computers have a big impact on your facility's overall energy consumption. The good news is it's relatively easy to go green with this type of equipment, because there are accepted standards and rating systems for their energy consumption.

Look for the Energy Star (www.energystar.gov) or EPEAT (www.epeat.net) label on appliances and electronics such as microwaves and refrigerators, washers and dryers, coffee machines, water coolers, computers, printers and non-surgical display monitors. Those labels let you know that the device has met specific requirements for efficient energy consumption.

Going Digital, Going Green

The shift from manual, paper recordkeeping to automated, digital information technology in the healthcare arena is designed to improve the quality and efficiency of patient care, but it can also have the unintended consequence of increasing healthcare facilities' energy consumption and costs. Office computing equipment is "one of the fastest-growing electricity uses in commercial buildings across the United States, directly consuming 7% or $1.8 billion of all energy costs," says Sheikh Sadiq, chief technology officer for ALIS Technology in Chicago, Ill.

Fortunately there is a way to bring your surgical facility into the 21st century while minimizing your carbon footprint. It's called Green IT. "The concept equates to using computing resources efficiently by designing, manufacturing, using and disposing of computers, servers and associated subsystems in an environmentally friendly way," explains Mr. Sadiq. Green IT can be applied in many ways, he says.

For example:

  • Use low-power, low-maintenance hardware that relies heavily on servers for most of your daily computing. "This simple move could save $6,000 in electricity costs annually for a facility using 100 computers," says Mr. Sadiq.
  • Reduce the number of physical servers used in your facility's data center through a software solution called server virtualization. This not only saves power, but also reduces support costs, since fewer servers require less time and labor for maintenance.
  • Create a green data center, either by converting your existing center or designing a new one to run more efficiently from the start. Mr. Sadiq says green data centers can reduce energy usage by 30% through "a unique design that reduces the need for costly infrastructure upgrades to meet the increasing demands of power and cooling."
  • Getting rid of old electronics? Don't just throw them away. "Many states have enacted tougher laws on recycling electronics," says Mr. Sadiq, "and there are now many options to efficiently dispose of computers and other equipment such as monitors, printers, storage devices and networking systems so that they will have minimal impact on the environment."

— Irene Tsikitas

Know your energy loads
Once you move beyond the consumer electronics and appliances in your facility, it becomes more of a challenge to determine which devices are using the most energy and where there may be room for improvement. That's because the U.S. government's Energy Star program does not yet evaluate and rate medical devices, instruments and equipment for energy efficiency the way it does for computers, refrigerators and other common household and commercial electronics. Since there's no standard for what efficient medical equipment should be, it's difficult for healthcare facilities to reduce their carbon footprint by making enlightened choices when shopping for new equipment.

For now, you'll have to rely on the information provided by equipment manufacturers, but be aware that the energy consumption specifications most companies provide do not give you an accurate picture of how much energy a device uses on a day-to-day basis. That's because the figures are usually based on peak loads — the amount of kilowatt-hours used during the very highest spike in the device's energy load (for example, when it's first turned on). But a single device is only at its peak load for a very short period of time every once in a while, so this number doesn't accurately reflect how much energy it will consume most of the time, when it's just turned on or in standby mode.

When evaluating 2 systems, if both manufacturers give you only the peak load data, picking the one with the lower peak load may be misleading since you don't know how the machine is going to run. Instead, ask suppliers how many kilowatt-hours the device consumes when running off-peak. Comparing the on-load values of 2 devices will give you a more accurate reflection of how much energy each device would consume throughout the day.

Look for devices that have a standby or sleep mode, which should reduce the equipment's energy consumption when it's not in use. Be sure to ask manufacturers for specific data about the energy load when a device is on standby. A lot of devices say they have a standby or sleep mode, but the consumption doesn't really drop significantly at rest. The only way to find out for sure is to ask the manufacturer to provide the numbers.

How to Shop for a More Efficient Sterilizer

If you're looking to green your sterile processing equipment, there are several factors you need to consider, including:?

Chemicals vs. steam. The manufacturers' specifications for the devices you use will largely determine which type of sterilization process your facility employs, but when you do have a choice, steam sterilization is the more environmentally friendly option.

The chemicals used in the sterilization process present a hazardous exposure risk to workers, which requires them to wear protective gear and take other safety precautions. In my hospital system, we prefer to purchase products that can be sterilized in the steam process rather than the chemical process.

Water consumption. When comparing 2 or more sterilizers, ask each manufacturer how many gallons of water are consumed during each cycle.

Manufacturers will often try to give nuanced answers, so be firm in asking for specific figures you can use to compare apples to apples. In addition to how much water the machine uses for each load, you should also ask whether the sterilizer is able to reuse or recycle the water in some way to cut down on consumption.

Energy consumption. As with other medical devices, you'll want to ask the manufacturer to supply you with precise information about the energy loads used when the machine is in use and when it's in standby mode. Again, it's important to press manufacturers for specific answers so you can make accurate comparisons between products.

Capacity. How many instruments can the machine accept in a single load? The larger the loads, the fewer cycles you'll need to run in the sterilizer, and the more resources you'll save, each day.

— Rachael A. Baker

Ms. Baker ([email protected]) is the environmental supply chain manager for Kaiser Permanente in Oakland, Calif.

Raising consciousness
Consider adding energy efficiency to the matrix of values and criteria you use to evaluate equipment purchases. As in most industries, the people with the purchase power have the ability and an obligation to drive suppliers to care about energy efficiency. Just asking these types of questions and becoming knowledgeable about how much energy is consumed by medical devices can help spur manufacturers to get serious about improving their products.

Purchasing energy-efficient equipment is just one piece of the puzzle when you're trying to reduce your facility's carbon footprint. Encouraging good habits among your surgeons and staff is another important piece that you shouldn't overlook. We say a building is only as good as its operators; the same saying applies to a device. Having equipment with a standby or sleep mode, for example, is pointless if your staff keeps the device running at full blast all day.

Your surgical team is understandably more focused on patient care than they are on how many kilowatt-hours the HD display monitor is sapping because it was left on after a case. One way to raise consciousness among your staff is to show them just how much energy a single electrical device uses when plugged in and turned on. For about $20 on Amazon.com, you can purchase a small electricity monitor called the Kill A Watt from P3 International (www.p3international.com). When you plug something into the Kill A Watt and plug the Kill A Watt into the wall, the device's display shows you the product's energy consumption by kilowatt-hour. So, for example, if you plug a bread maker into the Kill A Watt, you'll see it has a 2-watt vampire load, a 27-watt standby mode and uses 640 watts when it's turned on.

Bring the Kill A Watt into the staff lounge or to the nurses' station (but not into the OR — I wouldn't recommend you plug surgical equipment into it) and let staff test it on computers, TVs or microwaves.

This simple exercise can help them understand how much energy consumption varies when a device is turned on, in sleep mode or turned off. With a little extra education and training, putting devices on sleep mode or flipping the light switch when leaving an empty room can become second nature in the OR just as easily as it can at home.

Surgical Lighting: Kick the Incandescent Habit

While information on the energy efficiency of most surgical equipment can be hard to come by, there's lots of readily available data to support the energy-saving benefits of light-emitting diodes (LEDs) over traditional incandescent light bulbs. Incandescents emit about 90% of the power they consume as heat, not light. LEDs, on the other hand, emit almost no heat, which not only makes them more energy efficient, but also more comfortable for surgeons and staff to work under.

According to the U.S. Department of Energy, well-designed LEDs have a "useful life" (the number of operating hours until they dim to 70% of their initial light output) of 30,000 to 50,000 hours, compared to about 1,000 hours for a typical incandescent lamp and 8,000 to 10,000 hours for a comparable compact fluorescent lamp. Take a look at your surgical lighting units and how many bulbs are used in each one; now imagine how much waste you'd be cutting out by using LEDs that last up to 50 times longer before needing to be replaced. LEDs' longer lifespan also helps offset their cost, which can be 20% to 30% greater than traditional overhead surgical lighting units.

In its guide to LEDs, the DOE notes that "LED technology continues to change and evolve very quickly," with new generations of consumer LED products becoming "available approximately every 4 to 6 months." And the innovations don't stop with LEDs. Louisville-based BFW recently acquired FDA approval for a new plasma surgical headlight that claims to produce 10,000 hours of high-intensity, sunlight-equivalent light while using one-third less energy than xenon bulbs. Like LEDs, the plasma light source is a solid-state technology and does not contain filament that decays after use and pollutes landfills when discarded, as xenon lights do.

Ultimately, to make an informed choice when shopping for an upgrade of your surgical lights or headlights, consider both the quality of the light source for illuminating the surgical site and the lifespan and energy consumption of the different alternatives.

— Irene Tsikitas

Related Articles