Sustainability 6

Sustainability Initiative: Use of solar panels in hospitals

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Sustainability Initiative article search 3

Article 1: use of Photovoltaic solar panels

The article addresses the optimization of the machines in the hospital. The project was carried out in a hospital in Northeastern Brazil (Carvalho et al., 2016). The article evaluates the hospital energy requirements in the specific subsections. The article exploits the energy demands of the boilers, chillers and the heat exchangers in the hospital. The power that the solar panels generated was then fed to the electric grid (Carvalho et al., 2016). The grid would then distribute power to all subsections in the hospital. The project was then carried out according to the legal rules of the local authorities.

Benefits

The solar panel produces a cheap source of energy. Once the solar panels are in place, the hospital will enjoy a sufficient source of energy at a minimum source of energy. The energy source from the solar panel is clean hence, has little effect on the health of the patients and the staff in the hospital. Boilers and chillers require a large amount of power supply that cost the hospital a lot of money. Hence, the amount of money that the hospital spends on electricity reduces (Carvalho et al., 2016). Everyday a large amount of solar energy go unutilized. Tthe he project is a is a good way to utilize these energy sources.

Costs

The initialization capital of the project is high. The project requires a high investment in the purchase of Photovoltaic solar panels. The project will also need some specialist to integrate the project with the already working electricity system. There is also a need for training for the staff that works in the hospital that adds to the total amount of capital required in the project. The solar panels are weather dependent; hence, during rainy weathers, the energy supply will be low (Carvalho et al., 2016). During the rainy seasons, the hospital will be expected to use electricity, making the project inefficient. The hospital requires to powers all the premises in the hospital, hence need for a large number of solar panels. A large number of solar panels are space consuming, and the hospital may require to add the piece of land or demolish some structures to create space for the facility.

Article 2: Use of solar panels in hospitals on in-patient pediatric death rate

The world records a high number of child births every year. The deaths are due to chronic diseases and other forms of illness. There is a large population that does not have enough power supply. In Sierra Leone, the problem is even worse since only 10% receives electricity (NEPAL and PILOT, 2015). The hospitals do not have constant energy supply and do not provide adequate to life support machine hence the country records a high number of mortality rates among the inpatients (NEPAL and PILOT, 2015). Lack of enough lighting will lead to medical errors since visibility is low. The article speaks of how hybrid solar panels will be used to power oxygen concentrators and provide lighting in the hospital premises.

Costs

Installation of solar panels is expensive. There will be amount of money that will be used to start the project. The projects require solar panels, interconnecting cables, and low energy lights that all come at a price. The project also requires the staff to be trained before the start of the project (NEPAL and PILOT, 2015). In the project, solar energy can only power the oxygen concentrators. Hence the hospital will be required to look for a different source to power the life support machines and other tools in the hospital premises. Use of solar panels will only have the problem half solved; solar panels would be efficient if it solves the problem completely.

Benefits

The project will reduce the number of deaths in hospitals

. The hospital will have a continuous supply of power to the oxygen concentrators. The people who die from lack of oxygen due to machine failures will no longer occur. Solar panels convert light energy to electric energy that power the machines, hence cheaper.

Moreover, the source of energy is renewable hence conserves the environment. Use of solar energy will reduce the amount of money that the hospital spends on buying fuel for the generators. Solar panels have zero carbon emissions. Fumes at other times may even cause suffocation of the patients. Hence the problem will be eliminated. The hospital will have enough lighting hence reduce cases of medical errors that occur due to low visibility in the hospital wards. In the project low energy bulbs will be used, they will consume energy semi-conservatively, therefore, reduces cases of black outs.

Article 3: Solar powered oxygen concentrators in remote areas in Guinea

The article addresses the use of the solar panel to power oxygen concentrators in remote areas of Guinea. Third world countries have a great disease burden (Duke et al., 2017). They have limited power supply sources that cause deaths due to lack of oxygen. Failure of oxygen concentrators causes low oxygen supplies (Duke et al., 2017). In the project, there is an assessment of power supply in each hospital, selection of the best oxygen concentrators to work in the remote areas as well as logistics for proper installation of the project (Duke et al., 2017).

Benefits

It is through the project that there will be a reduction in death rates of people who suffer from oxygen shortage. Warm deserts mostly cover the largr parts of the country. Hence, there will be continuously supplied of power throughout (Duke et al., 2017). Moreover, alot of energy is lost and go unutilized every day in these areas. The hospitals in the remote areas will efficiently work as the immediate respondents for the community around. There will be a reduction in transport cost that the families would spend to reach the national hospitals.

Costs

The project requires high initial capital as it is to be conducted in 36remote health care facilities (Duke et al., 2017). The project will also incur a cost as an engineer for the project to be sustainable. The hospitals are at different locations in the country; environment pollution will also occur during the transportation of the solar panels. The project will involve the purchase of oxygen concentrators that are suitable in rural areas. The oxygen concentrators used initially are rendered useless (Duke et al., 2017). The number of solar panels in the project will be high hence there will be environment degradation since materials that manufacture use are pollutants.

References

Carvalho, M., de Mello Delgado, D. B., & Chacartegui, R. (2016). Life cycle analysis as a decision criterion for the implementation of solar photovoltaic panels in as Northeast Brazil hospital. In Energy, Transportation and Global Warming(pp. 295-310). Springer, Cham.

Duke, T., Hwaihwanje, I., Kaupa, M., Karubi, J., Panauwe, D., Sa’avu, M., ... & Kwaramb, A. (2017). Solar powered oxygen systems in remote health centers in Papua New Guinea: a large scale implementation effectiveness trial. Journal of global health, 7(1).

NEPAL, R. P. W. I. J., & PILOT, A. (2015). G260 (P) Effect of solar panels on in-patient paediatric mortality in a district hospital in sierra leone. Arch Dis Child, 100(3), A1-A288.