Green is the new black and Texas Children’s is taking note. As the nation celebrates Earth Day, Texas Children’s Green Team is doing its part to decrease the environmental footprint of the organization.
Here a list of events you can join during Earth Day – Wednesday, April 22.
Texas Children’s Green Team, a team of environmentally-minded leaders, employees and staff, has embarked on an effort to help Texas Children’s go green.
The Green Team has been pivotal in helping the organization go green by taking on cost and energy saving initiatives:
- Installed LED lamps in all of the Pavilion elevators
- Reduced campus energy use intensity by 23 percent through the implementation of many Energy Conservation Measures
- Replaced 5,500 50-watt spot lamps with 7-watt LED lamps. Each LED energy use is 43 watts lower than the standard lamp.
- Reduced chilled water consumption, used for air conditioning, usage by 20 percent, which gives us better temperature control
- Reduced steam consumption, used for heating, by 25 percent and lowered the heating water temperatures from 180 degree Fahrenheit to 130 degree Fahrenheit greatly reducing the steam consumption.
- Use daylight harvesting to reduce bridge lighting requirements. When there is enough light from outside the bridge lights are turned off
- Automatically turn off lighting and HVAC for unoccupied spaces using the building automation system to schedule the on and off times
- Installed automatic lighting controls in all environmental services closets
- Renegotiated our electricity contract to reduce cost by $670,000 annually
Over all, Texas Children’s Hospital has saved $10.3 million in energy cost since 2008.
Here are some tips for you to join the Texas Children’s green initiative yourself:
- Power off – If you have a Texas Children’s computer, be sure to power off at the end of the day to conserve energy. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, 75 percent of the computer’s energy use comes from the monitor. Just turning off your monitor any time you won’t be at your computer for an extended period of time can save.
- Think before you print – Not everything needs to be printed. Consider organizing your files on your computer and cut back on filing papers when appropriate. Use the back of old print outs for note taking to save paper.
- Eat green – Bringing lunch to work in reusable containers is likely the greenest (and healthiest) way to eat at work. Getting delivery and takeout almost inevitably ends with a miniature mountain of packaging waste. But if you do order delivery, join coworkers in placing a large order (more efficient than many separate ones). Also, bring in a reusable plate, utensils, and napkins.
- Minimize trash – Consider using reusable cups and mugs throughout the day as you’re filling up on water and coffee instead of plastic bottles or disposable cups.
- Ride green – Coming soon, you’ll be seeing green as Texas Children’s debuts its new propane-fueled shuttle buses, which significantly lower emissions.