EAGER: Energy Use in Healthcare Services

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This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).This Early Concept Grants Exploratory Research (EAGER) proposal seeks to achieve a substantial increase in knowledge of the healthcare services aimed at improved sustainability decision-making. The initial focus is on patterns of energy consumption. An energy analysis at the level of granularity and for industry-wide diagnosis as proposed herein has never been conducted in a healthcare setting. The life cycle approach to be used will be made consistent with modern evidence-based guidelines used in medicine today. The relationship between the decision to deliver a patient service and energy will be described. To achieve this broader impact, we seek to understand and tailor lci information needs for healthcare decision-making which is advancing along practices of evidence-based guidelines (EBG), the practice of evidence-based medicine at the organizational or institutional level. Validated life cycle energy information heuristics for selected services in healthcare will be posted on a Website for healthcare community education and use.