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Healthcare: Pollution Prevention & Best Management Practices

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Practice Greenhealth searchable library is now available
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Sustainable Hospitals
Support for selecting products and work practices

 

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Best Management Practices

EPA New England Hospital Environmental Assessment Template - An Environmental Compliance & Pollution Prevention Tool (PDF) (8 pp., 281 KB, about PDF)

Best Management Practices Catalog for Colleges & Universities

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Energy

Energy Star

Energy Efficiency Commitment (E2C) Program, American Society for Healthcare Engineering of the American Hospital Association

Combined Heat and Power (CHP)
Combined Heat and Power (CHP) is an efficient, clean, and reliable approach to generating power and thermal energy from a single fuel source. By installing a CHP system designed to meet the thermal and electrical base loads of a facility, CHP can increase operational efficiency and decrease energy costs, while reducing emissions of greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change.

Massachusetts Technology Collaborative
The state's development agency for renewable energy and the innovation economy funds projects and studies in a range of areas, including green buildings, green power, and solar energy.

Department of Energy – Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy – Industrial Technologies Program
The Industrial Technologies Program works with U.S. industry to improve industrial energy efficiency and environmental performance. Find software tools (pumps, motors, fans, steam systems, process heaters), training and other useful information.

DOE EnergySmart Hospitals
A Department of Energy (DOE) Initiative to provide hospitals the resources, tools, and strategies to cost and energy savings through efficient and renewable energy technology applications for both new and existing facilities.

EnergyPlus Version 2.0
The US Department of Energy has released the newest version of EnergyPlus. Key new features include green roofs, phase-change materials, and enhanced building controls.

Database of State Incentives for Renewables & Efficiency (DSIRE)
DSIRE is a comprehensive source of information on state, local, utility, and federal incentives that promote renewable energy and energy efficiency.

American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) State Energy Efficiency Policy Web site
Online database of energy efficiency policies in the states, searchable by state or by policy. The database covers: 1) appliance standards; 2) building codes; 3) clean distributed generation policies, 4) tax incentives, 5) vehicle policies and 6) a host of utility-related energy efficiency information

Green Power Partnership

Heat Island Effect: Energy Savings web page

Energy & New England’s Environment

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Environmental Management Systems

EPA New England EMS

Health Care Guide to Pollution Prevention Implementation through Environmental Management Systems, Draft 2nd Edition, 2005, Kentucky Pollution Prevention Center
The KPPC has this document on CD-ROM and it can be obtained free by contacting KPPC toll-free at (800) 334-8635, extension 8520965, direct at (502) 852-0965 or by email to INFO@kppc.org

College & University Environmental Management System Guide

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Environmentally Preferable Purchasing (EPP)

EPA Environmentally Preferable Purchasing Program
Find a database of "green" procurement language, EPP publications, case studies, policy documents, tip sheets, and federal EPP links on the Internet.

Practice Greenhealth, EPP
Find the H2E 10-step guide to EPP.

Practice Greenhealth, Green Cleaning
Find the H2E 10-step guide to Green Cleaning Implementation.

ENERGY STAR Purchasing & Procurement
Find a database of energy efficient products, energy savings calculators, purchasing specifications, and a vendor locator.

Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool
"EPEAT" is a procurement tool to help institutional purchasers in the public and private sectors evaluate, compare and select desktop computers, notebooks and monitors based on their environmental attributes (including energy efficiency).

Green Chemical Alternatives Wizard
This web-based tool provides information on chemical alternatives for some of the most commonly used hazardous solvents and substances in research laboratories.

Building for Environmental and Economic Sustainability (BEES) version 4.0
The tool updates data on more than 200 products and adds 30 new products for review. It also offers users the option of a new set of consensus weights for scoring the environmental impact of individual building products, based on a BEES stakeholder panel convened last year.

Pharos Project
Developing a framework for comparing products.

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Food

Organic Materials – Food Scraps EPA Waste site

Composting – Practice Greenhealth

Health Care Without Harm Food site

Healthy Food Pledge

Food Resource HCWH page

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Green Buildings

Practice Greenhealth Green Buildings page

Healthcare Without Harm Healthy Buildings page

Healthcare Environmental Resource Center Green Buildings page

EPA New England Green Buildings

Green Guide for Health Care
This toolkit provides guidance for integrating enhanced environmental health principles and practices into the planning, design, construction, operations and maintenance of healthcare facilities. The Green Guide for Health Care is available as a free download (registration required).

Global Health and Safety Initiative
A sector-wide collaboration to transform the way that healthcare designs, builds and operates its facilities, as well as the products used within those facilities

U.S. Green Building Council
This broad coalition from the construction industry, financial sector, government, and public interest organizations develops and promotes green building principles.

Healthy Building Network
Find information on green building topics specific to the healthcare sector

Center for Health Design
Through research, education, advocacy and technical assistance, the Center supports healthcare and design professionals in their efforts to improve the quality of healthcare through evidence-based building design.

Building Healthy Hospitals: Top 5 Green Building Strategies for Healthcare
EPA Region 9 collaborated with green building experts from across the United States as part of its "Building Healthy Hosptials" project. For an overview of the project and to access the case studies for each of the 5 Top Green Building Strategies for Healthcare: Energy Efficiency—Integrated Design and HVAC Systems, Process Water Efficiency, Sustainable Flooring Material Selection, Indoor Air Quality: Materials Selection, and Lighting Efficiency—Optimizing Artificial and Natural Lighting


Greenscapes

New England Greenscapes

Environmentally Beneficial Landscaping
Greenscaping can save you money and prevent pollution.

Greenscapes Tools
Find downloadable on-line calculators that allow you to compare costs (e.g. between environmentally preferable methods, using virgin materials). The calculators demonstrate that these activities are often cost competitive and provide numerous environmental benefits. They can aid in your decision making and implementation of more sustainable landscape design, construction, and operations and maintenance.

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Pollution Prevention

Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) Environmental Compliance and Improvement Guide
Guide relates each JCAHO Element of Performance to specific federal regulations, to help facilities achieve compliance with both. The Guide also suggests steps that facilities can take to encourage environmental performance improvements.

Meeting JCAHO Standards with Pollution Prevention
Information on how health care facilities can use pollution prevention to meet JCAHO’s performance improvement standards.

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Stormwater

Low Impact Development (LID)
National LID home page. Contains extensive EPA and Non-EPA resources and publications

Storm Water, EPA New England

Pollution Prevention Plans for Construction Activities

Green Infrastructure – Technologies and Approaches

Green Roofs

Rain Garden Design Templates

University of New Hampshire Stormwater Center

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Transportation

Best Workplace for Commuters

Diesel Emission Reductions

SmartWay Transport Partnership, US EPA
A voluntary partnership between various freight industry sectors and EPA that establishes incentives for fuel efficiency improvements and greenhouse gas emissions reductions

SmartWay Transport Partnership Program: Reduce Pollution from Your Vendors' Shipping Operations, Health Care Without Harm Fact Sheet, April 2006 (PDF) (2 pp., 83 KB, about PDF)
Fact sheet includes suggested RFP specification or contract language and a sample letter for purchasers to send to existing vendors to encourage them to join EPA’s SmartWay Transport Partnership Program

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Waste Management

Practice Greenhealth Waste Reduction Website

Resource Conservation Challenge (RCC)
The RCC is a national effort to conserve natural resources and energy by managing materials more efficiently. The goals of the RCC are to:

EPA WasteWise
Waste Wise is a free, voluntary partnership program sponsored by the EPA, through which organizations reduce municipal solid waste, benefiting their bottom line and the environment. Waste Wise is flexible, allowing partners to design waste reductions programs tailored to meet their needs. To join Waste Wise

Going Green Waste Minimization, Healthcare Without Harm

Mercury Assessment Worksheet
To help organizations inventory their mercury-containing devices and calculate their mercury content. Also includes a 2-page how-to-manual (click on TOOLKIT INSTRUCTIONS at bottom of spreadsheet).

Reuse in New England
A guide to donation opportunities for businesses, local governments, and residents to promote reuse over traditional solid waste disposal of materials that still have "use."


Computer and Electronics

EPA's eCycling
EPA is working to educate consumers and others on why it is important to reuse and recycle electronics and what the options are for safe reuse and recycling of these products. This website offers: basic information, information on where to donate, regulations/standards, frequently asked questions and resources.

Going Green: Computer and Electronics, Healthcare Without Harm

Construction & Demolition (C&D) Debris

C&D Debris
Construction and demolition (C&D) debris consists of waste that is generated during new construction, renovation, and demolition of buildings, roads, and bridges. C&D debris often contains bulky, heavy materials that include: concrete, wood, and asphalt (from roads and roofing shingles); gypsum (the main component of drywall); metals, bricks, glass, and plastics; and salvaged building components, such as doors, windows, and plumbing fixtures.

Use this site to access a range of resources from New England and beyond to help you reduce, reuse, and recycle waste during construction, renovation, deconstruction, and demolition, and to help you understand some of the environmental issues associated with C&D debris.

Recycling Construction and Demolition Wastes - A Guide for Architects and Contractors, April 2005 (PDF) (57 pp., 1.83 MB, about PDF)
The Institution Recycling Network wrote this guidance document as an introduction and "how to" for job site recycling.

 

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Water Conservation

Practice Greenhealth Water Conservation

Energy Star Water Tracking System
By tracking water use alongside energy use, you can better understand how these resources relate to one another, make integrated management decisions that increase overall efficiency, and verify savings from improvement projects in both energy and water systems. Organizations that manage water and energy performance together can take advantage of this relationship to create greener, more sustainable buildings.

Massachusetts Water Resources Authority Water Efficiency & Management for Hospitals

EPA Water Use Efficiency

Waterwiser
A clearinghouse of resources on water conservation, efficiency and demand management for conservation professionals and the larger water supply community.

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