Get Runners on Base Before You Swing For Grand Slams

Posted on August 30, 2011 by Bryan

As August winds towards September, and baseball pennant races, wildcard chases, and the playoffs near, the above bit of obvious baseball wisdom comes to mind when thinking about the best approach for most companies as they consider potential sustainability actions.  Too often, when companies think about potential sustainability actions, they contemplate approaches that are the equivalent of trying to hit a grand slam without first getting anyone on base. 

In some cases, they think first of the grand slam because it is something they want to do, in the sense of wanting to make the biggest, boldest statement they can, or wanting to implement the most environmentally-conscious or most long-term-cost-saving efficiency measure first.  This level of boldness is commendable, but it very often leads to incomplete, unsatisfactory, or even failing results on the ‘big hit’ project, compounded by no progress on the bypassed ‘base hit’ projects. 

In other cases, companies think first of the grand slam because it is the thing they think they have to do first, such as when they feel that a ‘big hit’ project is the only thing that will make a big enough environmental or long-term-cost-savings impact, or that stakeholders will be satisfied with nothing less than the most impactful project possible.   Leaders of some companies I’ve spoken with in my travels have initially thought that they couldn’t incorporate sustainability into their business because they thought the only way to do so was to immediately do a large-scale project such as a major lighting retrofit of their warehouse, a major replacement or upgrade of their whole vehicle fleet, or a major infrastructure project like an HVAC upgrade – things they weren’t in position to do at the time. 

There is absolutely a place for the larger-scale, big-hit project in your sustainability plans, and there are countless examples – from Ray Anderson’s Interface experiences to many others in the mainstream and ‘green’ business media – of how these larger projects, done right, are good investments with attractive paybacks and ROI.  They just need to be done in the right sequence as part of your sustainability plan, and with the right preparation – i.e., getting the runners on base.  Establishing a strategic sustainability plan helps you to identify the specific small and mid-sized ‘base-hit’ projects that can help you to:

  • Achieve early wins that drive positive momentum and enthusiasm for your sustainability program.
  • Pilot-test programs and approaches that can help optimize performance on the bigger projects to come.
  • Drive cost savings that can be used to offset some or a significant portion of a larger project’s investment.
  • Actually serve as the first steps in directly optimizing the success of the larger project. 

To expand on this last point:  sometimes the smaller project is to the larger project what the base-runner is to the grand slam – a necessary component for full success of the larger objective.  Here are just a couple of examples:

In some cases, smaller projects are literally needed first in order to train team members, establish momentum, and/or drive required cost savings to help pay for larger projects, as mentioned above.

Smaller, base-hit-type efficiency measures should always be taken before implementing bigger infrastructure projects.  As examples:

Before you upgrade your HVAC system, be sure to take all viable basic efficiency steps first – things like caulking windows, sealing cracks, upgrading insulation, and so on – the less-sexy but lower-cost steps that will keep you from buying an HVAC system that is larger than you actually need because you haven’t taken care of the base hits first.

It’s similar with solar energy systems as well – as this month’s radio interview with solar expert Dan Greenwood describes, solar energy systems can be a great investment for many companies, with a faster and more attractive payback than many people might initially perceive.  However, in some cases the solar energy system may not provide all your electricity needs, and in these cases the efficiency measures help reduce your need for non-renewable energy.  In other cases, optimizing efficiency as a first step allows you to properly size your solar energy system to generate just what you need, or to decide on whether to generate more and sell it back to the grid.

And, before jumping into that major lighting retrofit, make sure you’ve addressed all of the smaller, low-cost or no-cost electricity efficiency measures you can – such as optimizing efficiency settings on computers and other IT equipment, optimizing day-lighting, using manual or sensor-based lighting controls to prevent lighting unused spaces, and many others.  These will help offset the investment in the bigger-hitting project.

These examples focus on efficiency measures, but the concept applies to sustainability actions in other areas as well, such as waste management, raw material resource efficiency, and so on.  Just as a baseball lineup needs a good balance of players with high on-base-percentages and players who swing for the fences, your sustainability plan needs a good balance of small-win and big-win projects, sequenced correctly to optimize your success.

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Ray Anderson: Legacy of an Environmental Champion

Posted on August 9, 2011 by Bryan
The environmental sustainability community – and society as a whole, whether they knew much about him or not – lost a great environmental sustainability champion today.  Ray Anderson, the founder and chairman of Interface Carpet, one of the world’s greatest champions of business sustainability, and the first to show in a major way that even large, publicly-traded companies can do well (financially) by doing good (in the areas of environmental and social responsibility), passed away today at 77 after a 2-year battle with cancer.

Many who are active in the sustainability community know a good deal about Ray Anderson and Interface, but for those less familiar with him, a few brief highlights:  In 1973 Ray used his then-life-savings to found Interface Carpet, the Georgia-based manufacturer of carpet and floor coverings, and over the next 20 years, built it into one of the leading competitors in the carpet and floor-coverings industry.  Then, in 1994, while preparing to deliver a speech in response to questions from customers about what Interface was doing for the environment, Ray read Paul Hawken’s The Ecology of Commerce, and the message hit him “like a spear in the chest.”  Ray’s epiphany about the impact of his and his company’s participation in one of the most petroleum-intensive industries in the world led him to develop a new vision and mission for the company – to design the prototypical sustainable company for the 21st century.  In the 17 years since that epiphany, Ray led his company on an amazing journey up “Mount Sustainability” and in the process, set an incredible example for anyone dedicated to increased business sustainability. 

Some results of Interface’s sustainability commitments since they started the journey:  energy use per unit of production down 43%; greenhouse gas emissions reduced 44%; waste sent to landfills down 77%; water use per unit of production down 80%; renewable energy used for 30% of company energy needs; 36% of product materials from recycled or bio-based materials. 

It wasn’t always a smooth path; there were challenges with implementing sustainability initiatives, along with the usual challenges of running any large industrial business.  But Ray even credited his company’s sustainability focus with helping it get through some of its toughest times.  In his own words:

“Our companywide waste elimination measures have put a cumulative $405 million of avoided costs back into our pockets.  Not only have these measures paid for themselves, they helped us ride out the deepest, longest marketplace decline – the ‘perfect storm’ of Y2K diversion of capital to computer systems, the bursting of the dot-com bubble, and 9/11 – in our industry’s history.”

Through it all, Ray continually showed the courage to lead from the front, sharing internally and externally both the successes and challenges of his company’s sustainability journey, while simultaneously empowering Interface employees to own the efforts and embed sustainability within the fabric of the organization.  Ray was also an advocate for business sustainability in general, not just at Interface, sharing his story and the Interface learning in thousands of speeches, many articles, and in his two books, Mid-Course Correction: Toward a Sustainable Enterprise and Confessions of a Radical Industrialist (renamed Business Lessons of a Radical Industrialist for the paperback version; I prefer the original title).  If you have not read anything by Ray Anderson or heard him speak, I highly recommend both of these books, and that you view one or more of his speeches on the web; if you have read or heard him before, this week might be a good time to revisit a favorite passage or speech.

Of all of the major positive impacts that Ray Anderson had, perhaps the greatest was in demonstrating that, done right, increased sustainability is a savings and profit center rather than a cost center, and that increased sustainability isn’t just for smaller, privately-held companies.  Before the example of Interface, leading sustainability-focused companies tended to be smaller and/or privately-owned, but Interface showed that a publicly-traded company with a billion dollars in revenue, in one of the most resource- and petroleum-intensive industries in the world, could take bold steps to increase resource efficiency, reduce waste, emissions and effluents, and increase environmental sustainability, and improve company financial performance at the same time.  In May of 2011, before the recent declines in the overall stock market, Interface was trading near its all-time high, and as Ray wrote in 2009:

“Here’s the thing.  Sustainability has given my company a competitive edge in more ways than one.  It has proven to be the most powerful marketplace differentiator I have known in my long career.  Our costs are down, our profits are up, and our products are the best they’ve ever been.  It has rewarded us with more positive visibility and goodwill among our customers than the slickest, most expensive advertising or marketing campaign could possibly have generated.  And a strong environmental ethic has no equal for attracting and motivating good people, galvanizing them around a shared higher purpose, and giving them a powerful reason to join and stay….They come and they stay, because we aren’t just making carpets.  We’re making history.”

For those in the sustainability community, we’ve lost a true champion and standard-bearer.  I never met Ray in person, but I heard and viewed many of his speeches and presentations, read everything by him that I could find, and considered him, as did so many others in the sustainability community, a true role model for business sustainability and ethical responsibility.  If there was a Mount Rushmore for business sustainability leaders, Ray Anderson would be the first to be enshrined there.  Ray’s passion, integrity, inspiration, and commitment to environmental, social, and financial responsibility will be truly missed.  It is up to all of us, together, to take a moment to remember and thank Ray, and then to pick up the standard of this fallen leader and re-double our efforts to carry it forward – our collective journey up Mount Sustainability is not yet complete.

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Sustainability helps increase profits and resilience

Posted on August 8, 2011 by Bryan

The recovery of the U.S. economy from the recent recession remains tenuous, and the fallout we are seeing this week, including the reactions to the congressional debt ceiling debacle, the reactions to the resulting S&P downgrade, the reactions to investors’ pessimistic assumptions about near-term U.S. economic growth, and the reactions to the debt and economic concerns in other nations, all indicate that economic challenge and uncertainty will remain the order of the day for the near term. 

With this thought in mind, we reprise a slightly modified and updated version of an article by SymbioSus President Bryan Sheehan that was published earlier this year in the New Hampshire Business Review.  The article emphasizes that, despite the fact that it can be tempting in difficult or uncertain economic times to cut back on things like sustainability initiatives, in reality, sustainability initiatives can actually provide companies reduced costs and increased resilience in tough economic times. 

Many companies that have led the way in implementing sustainability programs, have reported that they have found them to be a savings, rather than the cost that they are sometimes assumed to be.  Interface Carpet for example, a company that has made some of the largest and boldest strides in business environmental sustainability, credits its sustainability initiatives as the primary reason it was able to weather the most challenging downturn in its industry in the early 2000′s.  And there are many other examples of businesses not only increasing profits in good times, but of being more resilient in down times, due to their sustainability efforts. 

As the economic recovery has moved along fitfully, many businesses have been wisely continuing to employ the strategies and tactics that helped them survive the depths of the recession, and keeping alert for additional strategies to boost performance and resilience in challenging economic times.

One such strategy that can help a business boost both profitability and resilience during any economic downturn is increasing the organization’s environmental sustainability.  Sustainability refers to adding a focus on long-term environmental and social responsibility to the traditional business focus on financial responsibility. 

Sometimes it’s assumed that any focus on environmental responsibility would only add costs, but businesses are increasingly realizing that increasing a company’s sustainability performance actually results in numerous sources of business value. These are briefly described below, emphasizing the three that offer the most near-term benefits.

Near-term benefits

Process Improvements: By improving various processes, businesses new to environmental sustainability can realize immediate positive impacts on their results and resilience. By assessing all of their value chain activities, companies can uncover numerous opportunities to reduce energy and resource use, waste and cost, and to increase resource efficiency, productivity and profits. Numerous sustainability actions are low-cost or virtually no-cost, and many others have ROI and payback periods competitive with or better than other typical business or capital investments.  Businesses that have already harvested some of this low-hanging fruit should definitely not cut back on those programs, and the savings they bring, in difficult economic times, and these companies often already have the baseline to continue to find additional savings and competitive advantage by maintaining the sustainability mentality, which is at its core based on the wise use of resources. 

Risk reduction: Improved environmental sustainability helps reduce regulatory, legal, public relations and business risks. By being in compliance with local environmental regulations, sustainability reduces the potential for fines or fees.  Sustainable practices also reduce the risk of lost business due to customers’ environmental requirements or their desire to work with more sustainable companies.  Businesses in locations or industries vulnerable to climate change impacts (e.g. coastal businesses, seasonal tourism) also have a vested interest in reducing their contribution to the climate change that could put their business at risk for losses or increased insurance costs.  Even businesses not precisely located in at-risk geographies have seen rising insurance premiums as insurers assess climate change risks.  It is in every company’s interest to reduce these types of business risks and costs, and sustainability programs can help do that.

Brand and culture benefits: Businesses that improve their environmental performance gain increased employee and customer loyalty and an enhanced reputation in the community, often leading to both direct and indirect financial benefits.  Employees continue to report that they prefer working for companies that are environmentally and socially responsible. Companies enhancing their brand via sustainability are often able to hire the best talent, reduce the time and cost of the recruiting process, and significantly reduce employee turnover costs.  Voluntary employee turnover may be lower in tougher job markets like those we’ve seen the past 2 years, but several different sources have reported that significant numbers of current workers have said they will begin looking to change jobs as the economy improves.  Companies that can increase employee loyalty and reduce turnover, as sustainabiltiy programs have been shown to contribute to, will have an advantage.

Sustainability actions have even been shown to contribute to increased employee productivity, reduced absenteeism, and in some cases reduced health-care costs for businesses.  Greater customer loyalty translates into protection from loss of revenue to competitors.  And an enhanced reputation with local community officials can help maintain license to operate and expand operations if needed.

Medium- and Longer-Term Benefits

The benefits of an increased sustainability that have slightly longer-term benefits include product and market opportunities, as well as ways to favorably influence the business context. Companies can explore ways to enhance the environmental performance of their products or add new – often premium-priced - environmentally friendly product lines (such as organic food or more eco-friendly personal care products) to meet customer expectations.  Companies can also often uncover or create new market segments that have a sustainability component (think Zipcar and short-term auto rental).  Finally, companies that enjoy a reputation for being green can often favorably influence industry standards, regulations, legislation and other “rules of the game” that may not only offer broad benefits, but which may also benefit the company itself.

In a challenging economy that is in a cautious recovery, the initial reaction can sometimes be to be wary of anything that seems like additional cost. Many businesses are finding, however, that well-planned environmental sustainability strategies and actions, with their focus on wise use of resources, actually deliver significant benefits that strengthen both the bottom line and the long-term foundation of the business.

After all, that’s what sustainability is all about – resilience over the long haul.

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The Need for Increased Sustainability Is Hitting Closer To Home

Posted on June 20, 2011 by Bryan

Two occurrences in recent months have brought the need for increased sustainability closer to home for businesses and individuals. 

The first occurrence was the situation I noted in last month’s SymbioSus newsletter, and which is elaborated on in this article in the Boston Business Journal,[i] in which a small New Hampshire manufacturer received a short-notice request from a customer to complete a detailed survey about their sustainability goals, plans, actions, and results.  These types of surveys have been in use for a few years by Fortune 500 companies and their larger supply-chain partners, but seeing first-hand a mid-sized company making a very similar request of a smaller supplier really brought home the emergence of this trend of increased sustainability scrutiny for mid-sized and smaller businesses in many industries.

The second occurrence is the extreme-weather spring we have just experienced all around the U.S. this year. 

It is true that it is difficult to conclusively and directly link any one specific weather event to climate damage, but climate scientists recognize that climate damage increases the likelihood of extreme events such as more intense storms, more frequent and intense rainfall and flooding in wetter regions, more intense and longer droughts in dry regions, and so on.   

Despite what is in my opinion an artificially contrived ‘controversy’ over the cause and impact of climate damage, essentially all reasonable climate scientists and reasonable members of the public at large recognize that climate damage is real and that human activity contributes significantly to it. 

Even for those holding this majority position, however, the adverse impacts predicted to result from climate damage have often seemed like something far away, in terms of time, distance, or both.  It has been perceived that any impacts wouldn’t be occurring until well after we are gone, and/or that if they do occur, they will affect only polar bears and penguins at the far reaches of the earth, or only tiny, sparsely populated islands whose highest elevation is 3 feet above sea level.  Recent occurrences are showing us, ominously, that this is no longer the case.   

Several recent occurrences have brought climate damage impacts home to many of us here in the U.S., and indicate that the adverse impacts of climate damage are no longer distant-future events that will only affect far-flung locations.  They are happening now, and they are starting to happen in our own backyards.  Here are just a few examples, from what climatologists and weather experts have said was the most extreme-weather spring U.S. history:

Record or near-record winter snowfall levels in the upper Midwest and Northeast, due to more moisture in the air (warmer air holds more moisture), combined with La Nina cyclical storm conditions.[ii] 

Incidentally, for anyone questioning the concept of increased snowfall despite ‘global warming,’ it’s key to note that the increased moisture that the warmer atmosphere holds still falls as snow in the winter (when temperature is cold enough) and as rain in the summer in cooler regions.  Climate science predicts what we have been seeing – on average, shorter winters, with more warm days and more precipitation as rain rather than snow than in the past in cooler regions – but that does not mean that there will not be times when the increased moisture in the air combines with cold enough temperatures to fall as significant snowfall.  Those cooler regions haven’t yet warmed to the point where it won’t get to 32 degrees or lower in the winter – if they ever do get to that level, we’re in very deep trouble.[iii]

Devastating record floods in the Ohio, Mississippi, and Missouri River Valleys, resulting in 6.8 million acres flooded in the Lower Mississippi River Valley alone, and up to an estimated $4 billion in damage, due to record spring rains (300% of normal in the Ohio River Valley [iv]) and high and rapid snowmelt due to warmer temperatures.[ii, iv]

Continued droughts in southern California, the Southwest, Texas, and into Georgia, contributing to the highest amount of wildfire activity ever recorded in the month of April, with almost 1.8 million acres burned. [iv]

Again, to address the seeming paradox of how climate damage can contribute to a wetter region having its wettest months on record and a drier region simultaneously having some of its driest:  A simple way to put it is that the warmer atmosphere in a drier region more aggressively draws (evaporates) and holds what little moisture is available, but doesn’t become saturated enough to drop it as rain, whereas in a wetter region, the added moisture in the air eventually does result in rainfall – often very heavy and intense rainfall, as we have seen in many places this spring.

One of the most extreme and severe tornado seasons on record, with 875 tornados in the month of April alone, (historical April average over the past 10 years: 161). [iv]  This resulted in devastating tornados in Oklahoma, Arkansas, Alabama, Missouri, and other southern states, as well as tornados causing fatalities and severe damage even in places where they are normally very rare, such as in Raleigh, North Carolina, and the Springfield, Massachusetts area.

All in all, climatologists and weather experts called it the most extreme spring weather on record in the U.S: 

“The tornado outbreak, floods and drought during April were comparable to extreme events in the past, but never so close together, [stated] Deke Arndt, chief of the climate monitoring branch at the National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C.” [ii] 

“The onslaught of extreme weather events this past spring may have no equal in the historic record. Harold Brooks, researcher at NOAA’s Storm Prediction Center, speaking at a press briefing Wednesday, said the most similar year to 2011 might be 1927 which had significant tornado activity and flooding. However, historic indicators of drought do not suggest similarly dry conditions in the Southwest that year.” [iv]

This article from the Washington Post sums up some of the grim statistics in terms of lives lost and damage suffered from the weather extremes of this spring.  As the impacted regions work to recover from the tragic and damaging losses of this extreme-weather spring, hopefully we will also view the events as an alert about conditions that are predicted to worsen if we do not do all that we can to minimize our adverse impacts on the environment in which we live and from which we draw our resources.  From a business perspective, it is certainly true that it is not the responsibility of the business community alone to drive increased sustainability, but it is also true that the business community may be the only entity with a sufficient combination of power, flexibility, and innovativeness to do so.  And, as has been discussed in these newsletters and many other venues, there is real business benefit to driving more sustainability into your strategies and actions.

Even for business people who take one of the more skeptical perspectives that either (a) climate damage isn’t happening, or isn’t related to human activity, (b) climate damage may be happening, but it’s not business’s responsibility to do anything about it, or (c) climate damage may be happening, and may be related to our activities, but there is nothing we can do to stop it, you would still be better off pursuing actions to increase your organization’s sustainability.  This is because these actions help reduce business risk and cost, and increase efficiency, productivity, profits, and company reputation.  They are just good business – actions that increase businesses value no matter the underlying rationale.  It is also because, even if the majority is wrong, and there is no association between human and business actions and environmental damage, acting more sustainability brings business benefits anyway.  There is little risk in being ‘wrong’ on this bet.  Conversely, as recent events are beginning to hint at ominously, the risks of losing the bet that our actions don’t impact the environment may be too big to take.

[i] Alspach, K. (2011, June 10-16). Sustainability surveys making way down to small cos.. Boston Business Journal, p. 7.

[ii] Schmid, R. P. (2011). Weather records, and Americans, battered by spring. Boston Globe online. Retrieved from http://articles.boston.com/2011-06-15/news/29662016_1_tornado-death-toll-tornado-outbreak-storm-prediction-center

[iii] Jervey, B. (2010). Snow job: Winter doesn’t disprove global warming. OnEarth Magazine online. Retrieved from http://www.onearth.org/article/snow-job-winter-doesnt-disprove-global-warming

[iv] Samenow, J. (2011). Spring extreme weather events in 2011 in U.S.: historic and record setting. Washington Post. Retrieved from http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/capital-weather-gang/post/spring-extreme-weather-events-in-2011-in-us-historic-and-record-setting/2011/06/15/AGVMkOXH_blog.html

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CleanMed Day 3: Waste reduction & recycling contributes meaningful cost savings

Posted on April 11, 2011 by Bryan

Green HealthcareAs is well known by many, the healthcare industry is a highly waste-intensive industry.  Practice Greenhealth, a non-profit coalition of member hospitals working to reduce the environmental impacts of the healthcare system, estimates that U.S. healthcare facilities generate roughly 6 million tons of waste per year – and that is a conservative estimate, as it is based on the waste per year per staffed bed at the organization’s environmental award-winning sites.  It can be safely assumed that most hospitals in the U.S. have higher waste-production rates than these facilities.  Further, this only includes the waste produced by healthcare facilities; it does not include the waste generated by their supply chain partners in producing and delivering the products and services used that help them treat patients. 

Along with energy efficiency improvements, waste reduction initiatives can be some of the most positively impactful steps that healthcare facilities – or others, for that matter – can take as part of a program to increase sustainability and reduce costs.  This waste assessment and reduction refers to all types of waste in the healthcare system, including general trash/standard municipal waste, to confidential documents or items such as labeled pharmaceutical containers, regulated medical waste, universal waste, and hazardous waste.  Numerous institutions at CleanMed reported reductions in overall hospital-generated waste of between 20 and 40%, with the associated savings in waste removal costs. 

Beth Schenk, of St. Patrick Hospital, in Missoula, Montana, presented a case study on their successful waste reduction efforts.  In 2007, they could document that less than 0.2% of the waste generated by the hospital was being recycled or otherwise prevented from entering the waste stream.  They knew they were recycling more than this, but were unable to document it, and in any case believed that the recycling rate was much lower than it could have been – perhaps in the single digits in terms of percent of their waste produced.

The hospital instituted a cross-functional, cross-departmental collaborative program to more rigorously assess all of their waste streams, to start tracking and documenting what was already being recycled, to increase the levels of recycling, and to increase the internal and external communication about recycling (internal coordination, practical steps and tips, and external public awareness). 

Some strengths they employed to help the program succeed were an engaged and motivated staff, a supportive hospital administration, alignment with the hospital’s mission, inclusion of recycling training in annual employee development training, and support from the public for the program.  Challenges they faced were limited recycling in their community (only limited types of plastic were accepted, glass was not accepted, etc.), no local composting option, no single-stream recycling option, a fee for recycling, waste management responsibilities spread across several departments, and the fact that their waste hauler reported and charged by number of pickups, not weight. 

Despite these challenges, the hospital implemented the program, with training, communication, coordination, increased waste assessments, creative problem-solving about finding re-use or recycling options for appropriate materials, partnership with vendors and suppliers, and the development of a culture based around a quote by Joseph Romm:  “Waste is not an inevitable result of production, but rather a measure of its inefficiency.” 

As a result of this waste reduction and recycling program, the hospital has increased its recycling to 31% of its waste stream, thus reducing its waste by 31%, and they are in the process of discussions with their waste hauler to reduce the number (and thus cost) of waste pickups accordingly. 

This was just one of countless case studies at CleanMed on the types of cost savings and environmental benefits hospitals are generating in areas like waste reduction and energy efficiency, through a focus on increased sustainability.  Other organizations, within and outside the healthcare industry, often have similar savings opportunities in reducing waste from their processes and operations.

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CleanMed Day 3: “The race for prevention”

Posted on April 11, 2011 by Bryan

Green HealthcareKey thoughts and takeaways from the keynote discussions on CleanMed Day 3 (4/7/11):

Several keynote speakers challenged the historical approach to healthcare delivery and noted the beginnings of changes in it:  Gary Cohen, co-founder and President of Healthcare Without Harm, noted that while there is value in concepts like “the race for the cure,” we should be focusing as much or more energy, effort, and investment on “the race for prevention.”  Gail Vittori, Co-Director of the Center for Maximum Potential Building Systems, asked how it can be that the healthcare industry was not the ‘poster child’ for green buildings (healthier living, working, and healing environments) – and for that matter, for healthy, more environmentally sound food choices, etc. 

The elephant in the room in the medical community is that there exists a cynical view (not necessarily widely held, but one that does exist) that ‘there’s less money in prevention,’ but I believe that’s a misguided view for a few reasons.  First, a medical industry related to healthy living and prevention could be similarly robust compared to an acute-care/cure-based model – the industry might look different, but it wouldn’t go away.  Second, the transition to a prevention-based model will not happen overnight.  There will always be the need for cure-based approaches – first, as a bridge to the new model, and then as a supporting element, as prevention will clearly not be 100% effective.  Third, it is increasingly being shown that a more proactive, prevention-based, sustainability- and efficiency-based model saves money for the healthcare system and for individual hospitals and companies.  Finally, the healthcare industry, from caregivers to facilities to drug, device, and supply providers have a responsibility to at the very least not create additional adverse impacts for patients and society – to ‘first, do no harm.’ 

All of this is pointing to the need for a more sustainable (in all senses of the word; financially, socially, and environmentally) healthcare system, and the throughout the CleanMed conference (and in increasingly frequent media reports) we see examples that the healthcare industry is actively moving in this direction.   

A large and growing number of hospitals are taking more and larger steps in terms of making their existing facilities, operations and practices more sustainable, more efficient, less wasteful and healthier for patients and staff.  LEED for Healthcare (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design building guidelines specifically for healthcare facilities) will roll out this summer, after being piloted recently in a number of facilities.  Numerous early-adopters who have already surpassed basic LEED recommendations are now pursuing more aggressive goals such as the concept of ‘Living Buildings.’  Healthcare facilities and organizations are increasingly requesting that their supply chain partners (drug, device, equipment and supply providers) demonstrate what they are doing to be more environmentally sustainable.  And the list goes on.  Momentum for increased environmental sustainability in healthcare is growing and accelerating, but must continue to do both if the industry is to continue to meet the challenges it faces in the 21st century.

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CleanMed Day 2: Key News From Initial Sessions of Main Conference

Posted on April 7, 2011 by Bryan
  • Attendance in the main conference opening session appeared to be somewhere between 350 and 400, with roughly 25% indicating that they’d been to 3 or fewer annual CleanMed conferences, a possible indicator of more hospitals ‘getting into the game.’

 

  • Speakers in several sessions emphasized a point that may be obvious but is worth repeating and considering:   Most hospitals are at no better than a 3% profit margin, so saving $1 million is the equivalent of finding $33 million in new topline revenue.  This helps bring home to upper level management the value of an increased focus on sustainability and efficiency.

 

  • Research by the Mason School of Business and The College of William and Mary found that leadership in sustainability requires many of the same skills as leadership in other areas, just with a sustainability perspective.   They found the following key success elements to be needed:
    • An executive level sustainability champion
    • An individual or team to coordinate & integrate the tactical activities.  Needed qualities of the individual leader:  (a) good communication skills; (b) process analysis and management skills; (c) ability to stay aware of developments in a rapidly-changing field.  Clinical experience can be helpful but is not required.
    • Sustainability needs to be reflected in the organization’s vision & mission.
    • Cross functional teams are needed to coordinate activities and to disseminate knowledge.
    • Functional teams are needed to drive continuous improvement within departments and to accumulate specialized knowledge.

 

  • The Health Care Research Collaborative is about halfway done with a year-long study on the cost impacts of sustainability actions in three main areas – waste, energy, and environmentally preferable purchasing (EPP).

 

  • Kaiser Permanente implemented EPP in its system and saved over $2 million in 2009 and over $10 million in 2010.

 

  • Gundersen Lutheran Hospital used operational efficiency steps (not large new capital expenditures or new construction projects) to save $1.25 million per year.

 

  • Providence Portland improved its recycling rate to 50% and saved $185,000 per year. 

 

  • Boulder Community Hospital, by implementing focused recycling just in the OR, attained a 40% OR waste recycling rate, saving $65,000 per year.
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CleanMed 2011 Day 2: Exciting Growth and New Developments in Green Healthcare Continue

Posted on April 7, 2011 by Bryan

News, comments, and other information from Day 2 of CleanMed 2011 that I found interesting and important:

From the Day 2 pre-meeting workshop on “The Hospital of the Future”

  • The room was standing-room only, with people lined up around the perimeter – over 150 people; strong attendance considering there was another simultaneous workshop next door, as well as a simultaneous tour of a greener reprocessing facility.

 

  • The opening presenter pointed out – accurately, in my view – that, in terms of facilities, the leaders in the hospital industry are starting to move from the more fundamental focus on Green Design and ‘doing less bad’ (what sustainability thought leader William McDonough calls ‘eco-efficiency’), to a more proactive focus on Regenerative Design (‘eco-effectiveness, as McDonough puts it).  While it is true that the majority – the early majority or ‘fast followers’ are still focusing on Green Design and eco-efficiency – which is proper for where they are in the process – it is very encouraging that the early adopters are now moving into the next phase.  And, as was pointed out by a speaker, 3 years ago the healthcare industry wouldn’t even have been able to have a conversation about going beyond fundamental eco-efficiency; now, there are leaders that are starting to push that envelope. 

 

  • A great quote was used at one point that crystallized a point we often try to emphasize when speaking about sustainability:  “There is a difference between doing less harm to an ecosystem and being part of an ecosystem.”   We need to re-invigorate the understanding that ‘the environment’ or ‘nature’ isn’t something that is ‘out there’ that we ‘go to’ – it surrounds us, we exist within it, as does every other being and every resource we use.  We need to work with, and in the example of, nature, rather than against it 

 

  • 48% of energy used in the U.S. is used in buildings, and hospitals are the 2nd-largest user of energy behind food service.

 

  • The average hospital in the U.S. uses 275-350 thousand BTU (KBTU) per square foot per year.  The average Scandinavian hospital uses 100 to 150 KBTU for similar patient activities and service levels.  The average office building in the U.S. uses 70 KBTU/s.f. per year (i.e., hospitals are 4-5 times as energy-intensive as the average U.S. office building).

 

  • The hospitals that are the best in terms of energy efficiency use one-third the amount of energy as that used by the worst.

 

  • It has been shown through both modeling and actual practice that it is possible to build a hospital that uses 60% less energy than the baseline average, for roughly a 2% cost premium and a 5-year simple payback (for a building with a minimum of a 20-year life).

 

  • While Green Design and more advanced concepts like Living Building design can result in huge energy and other savings, there are many things that can and are being done to reduce costs that don’t require building renovation or large capital outlays.  A few examples include waste source reduction efforts, expanded recycling efforts, turning off lights and computers, using software to optimize efficiency of office (non-clinical) computers, lights, and temperatures, using occupancy- or motion-sensors, reducing room air change frequency (while still maintaining positive pressure) in OR’s at night when not in use.  Other actions such as lighting or heating retrofits have relatively larger initial investments, but yield high ROIs and relatively quick payback periods.
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CleanMed 2011 Sustainable Healthcare Conference Opening Workshop – Key Takeaways and Thoughts

Posted on April 6, 2011 by Bryan

Green Healthcare

CleanMed, the largest conference dedicated to sustainable healthcare, opened its 2011 conference in Phoenix, AZ, today with two simultaneous half-day workshops, one on LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) for Hospitals and one on Infrastructure and Process for Sustainability in Healthcare.  I attended the Infrastructure and Process workshop and offer some key takeaways and thoughts below. 

 Overall impressions:  There were approximately 50 participants in the workshop, the vast majority representing U.S. hospitals, with a few representing hospitals in Canada and Brazil, one or two representing medical products companies, and a few in the consulting and professional services areas.  We’d always like to see more hospitals represented at workshops like these, but considering the tight budgets of hospitals these days, having nearly 50 hospitals commit to having a key sustainability representative travel to Phoenix, pay the extra fee and stay an extra day for the workshop is not bad.  And this is clearly only a portion of the hospitals in the U.S. that have begun to integrate sustainability strategies and actions into their operations.  Clearly not all of the 6,000-odd hospitals in the U.S. are active with sustainability yet, and only a small number of them are truly far along the pathway, but many more are active with some aspects of increased sustainability than were represented at this workshop.  In fact, since this was an introductory workshop, the hospitals that have been the ‘early adopters’ and leaders in sustainability were actually not here today – they will be participating in much of the rest of the conference, but at this workshop were hospitals that represent the expanding group of ‘fast followers’ that are increasingly taking advantage of the sustainability benefits in the areas of cost savings, competitive advantage, patient and employee health, risk reduction, brand enhancement, and customer, patient, and community favorability. 

The workshop was hosted and presented by Practice Greenhealth, a hospital-industry membership association (that also accepts as members medical device, pharmaceutical, and supply companies, as well as other professionals and organizations) that is dedicated to providing education, resources and tools to help hospitals successfully green their operations.

The workshop content was appropriately basic in many areas, due to many of the participants being fairly new to sustainability, but also went into some detail on some more advanced concepts and solutions as well.  Here are a few of the key takeaways (focusing mostly on macro trends here – some of the new solutions and sustainability results will be shared in future posts):

Key Takeaways:

  • Despite some encouraging progress, and new engagement by increasing numbers of hospitals and their supply chain partners, there is still a huge amount of upside (i.e., room for improvement).  For example, in the U.S. alone, hospitals spend $8.3 billion on energy, and are often the largest user of water in their community.  U.S. hospitals cumulatively produce well over 6 million tons of waste annually, and hospitals in the U.S. and Canada use 2 to 3 times the amount of energy as hospitals in Europe, for outcomes that are by many measures no better.

 

  • Using the language of the adoption curve, the workshop presenters pointed out that in the greening of healthcare, we are now past the ‘Early Adopter’ phase and into the ‘Fast Follower’ phase, in which a larger group of organizations will follow the leaders’ example and begin to gain the advantages of more sustainable operations.  They also emphasized that “you don’t want to be the laggard” in this scenario.  I agree with both of these points – if your hospital, local health clinic or medical office, medical device or drug company isn’t moving forward now with sustainability plans and actions, it is positioning itself for increased risk, loss of bottom-line improvement opportunities, and reduced ability to compete in the ever more challenging 21st-century healthcare marketplace.

 

  • In the late summer of this year, Canada will join Europe in implementing product takeback laws for medical product producers, essentially requiring medical product manufacturers to have a plan for the takeback, re-use, and/or responsible disposition of products at the end of their use.  There is no indication that such laws are imminent in the U.S., but the gradual move in this direction continues to advance globally.

 

  • Among the many areas of increased sustainability focus within hospitals, such as energy, water and resource use, waste, toxin reduction, and others, one of the fastest-growing concepts or trends in healthcare facilities is in the area of healthier, local, and often organic food.  Anyone who has been frustrated, as I have, as to why the healthcare system emphasizes a healthy diet and then often serves food laden with chemicals, preservatives, additives, artificial colors and flavors, pesticides, herbicides, hormones, trans fats, and/or high-fructose corn syrup can take some encouragement from this positive trend.

 

  • While much of what needs to be done to make the healthcare system more sustainable is not easy, there is some low-hanging fruit, and a good sustainability planning process can make the journey to sustainability more doable, and there are many very significant and tangible bottom-line benefits that can and have been attained.  We will highlight some more specific examples in future posts about the conference.
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SymbioSus president Bryan Sheehan recently published in New Hampshire Business Review

Posted on March 11, 2011 by Bryan

Click here to read an article by SymbioSus President Bryan Sheehan, recently published in the New Hampshire Business Review, about how environmental sustainability can improve near-term profitability and long-term resilience for businesses.

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