文章基本信息

标题：The Energy Burden and Environmental Impact of Health Services
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作者：Lawrence H. Brown ; Petra G. Buettner ; Deon V. Canyon 等
期刊名称：American journal of public health
印刷版ISSN：0090-0036
出版年度：2012
卷号：102
期号：12
页码：e76-e82
DOI：10.2105/AJPH.2012.300776
语种：English
出版社：American Public Health Association
摘要：Objectives. We reviewed the English-language literature on the energy burden and environmental impact of health services. Methods. We searched all years of the PubMed, CINAHL, and ScienceDirect databases for publications reporting energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, or the environmental impact of health-related activities. We extracted and tabulated data to enable cross-comparisons among different activities and services; where possible, we calculated per patient or per event emissions. Results. We identified 38 relevant publications. Per patient or per event, health-related energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions are quite modest; in the aggregate, however, they are considerable. In England and the United States, health-related emissions account for 3% and 8% of total national emissions, respectively. Conclusions. Although reducing health-related energy consumption and emissions alone will not resolve all of the problems of energy scarcity and climate change, it could make a meaningful contribution. Global warming is not a new concern. Since the late 1980s, scientists have described rising surface temperatures and increased climate variability, 1–3 concurrent with mounting atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO₂) concentrations. 4–6 Rising surface temperatures and increasing atmospheric CO₂ levels could coexist without one necessarily causing the other, but historical data suggest that this is unlikely, 7 and it is difficult to ascribe recent atmospheric CO₂ concentrations approaching 400 parts per million 6 to natural processes and inherent variation: at no point did preindustrial CO₂ levels exceed 300 parts per million. 8 Concerns about energy scarcity and rising energy costs are also intensifying. The current global estimate for ultimately recoverable conventional oil is between 2.0 and 4.3 trillion barrels; this compares to cumulative production of 1.13 trillion barrels through 2007. That is, we have already consumed between 20% and 50% of all currently available conventional oil. 9 Health professionals have been among the leaders of widespread advocacy for addressing climate change, 10–16 as well as expressing mounting concerns about the effects of energy scarcity on public health and health services. 17–20 What, though, is the health sector’s contribution to rising atmospheric CO₂ levels and dwindling energy reserves? Understanding the energy consumption, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and other environmental burdens associated with health services is important both to identify opportunities to minimize their environmental impact and to better guide their adaptation to a low-carbon economy. We reviewed the extant English-language literature on the energy burden and environmental impact of health services.