June 2, 2008—The Premier healthcare alliance has announced a climate and energy collaborative, Securing Proven Healthcare Energy Reduction (for the) Ecosystem (SPHERE), focused on reducing the healthcare industry’s energy costs and carbon footprint as the second most energy-intensive industry in the country.
SPHERE’S primary goals are to help Premier alliance members reach measurable targets to:
- Reduce energy cost
- Reduce overall energy usage and GHG emissions for positive public health impact
- Increase use of cleaner, renewable energy
SPHERE will enable Premier members to support patient and public health through cost-effective, environmentally sensitive energy procurement, use, and management practices. It will also bring hospitals together to share best practices and benchmark their energy use to positively impact climate change and public health.
As part of SPHERE, Premier will collaborate with Practice Greenhealth, a new non-profit organization and successor to Hospitals for a Healthy Environment (H2E), Green Guide for Health Care and Healthcare Clean Energy Exchange to lead the first large-scale, healthcare reverse auction for energy. The healthcare focused, Web-based, electronic energy auction establishes competition among energy suppliers to reduce prices of energy and environmental commodities (e.g., renewable energy certificates and carbon offsets), enabling hospitals to lock in more stable pricing and increase their percentage of green/renewable energy purchases.
