Quantitative determination of potable cold water consumption in German Hospitals

Abstract

A hospital's water installations are critical for its function, but the environmental cost is high. This study quantifies the mean potable cold water consumption (PCWC) in 19 hospitals belonging to the German Public Health System. The hospital floor area ranges from 3000 to 151,000 m2 and the number of beds from 45 to 1003 beds. To this end, 60 Eco-Management and Audit Scheme statements were analyzed corresponding to the period 2005-2015 in accordance with their geographic location, heating-degree-days per year, cold-degree-days per year, hospital category depending on the number of beds, floor area, and number of workers. It was found that PCWC is greater in hospitals located in areas with greater heating-degree-days per year. The potential mean annual savings estimated were 8,600,000 m3 of water equivalent to 15,000,000 euros, 4000 MWh energy, and 30,000 tons of CO2 emissions. It was concluded that, to determine the mean annual water consumption, it is preferable to use the number of beds as reference indicator, and the value of the consumption as reference indicator was proposed as 103 m3 per bed per year.