Exploring the strategies to implement a sustainable energy program in Hong Kong Public Hospitals

• Main Author: Ting, Terry
• Format: Others
• Language: en
• Published: ScholarWorks 2017
• Subjects: Corporate sustainability; Hospital energy saving program; Strategy for corporate sustainability; Sustainable energy program; Sustainable hospital; Business; Health and Medical Administration
• Online Access: https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/dissertations/3474; https://scholarworks.waldenu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=4577&context=dissertations

Healthcare is one of the most energy-intensive industries because of its 24 hour-a-day and 7-days-a-week operation model. Climate change, due to environmental pollution, has increased the incidence of respiratory disease, cardiovascular disease, and cancer, which further overload the financial burden of our healthcare system. The National Health Service Sustainable Development Unit suggested that a sustainable healthcare sector also requires using their resources in an efficient and responsible way. Hong Kong public hospitals are facing this problem along with high energy expenditure. The purpose of this qualitative, multiple site case study was to explore strategies for Hong Kong's public hospital leaders to develop and implement a sustainable program to reduce energy consumption. A purposive sample consisted of five local public hospital leaders that had successfully implemented a sustainable energy at their hospitals and received the 2014 Certificate of Merit of The Hong Kong Awards for Environmental Excellence. Semistructured interviews and document reviews were the data analysis methods for this study. The findings from the data analysis suggested that five major themes arose from the data: (a) external and internal driving forces, (b) leadership, (c) governance, (d) building a sustainable culture, and (e) performance measures. The recommendations of this study may lead to improving the use of energy in an efficient and responsible manner at the local public hospitals, reducing the hospital energy consumption cost, and reducing the disease incidences caused by environmental pollution.