CHICAGO (STMW) — The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has awarded a $500,000 grant to the Chicago Green Healthcare Initiative (CGHI) to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions in Chicago-area hospitals by reducing their energy use, according to U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin’s office.
The Chicago Green Healthcare Initiative is a partnership between Health Care Without Harm and the City of Chicago. The Initiative’s goal is to protect public health by significantly reducing greenhouse gas emissions and other air pollution generated by energy use in the health care sector, according to a release Friday from Durbin’s office. CGHI is assisting more than 20 area hospitals reduce their energy consumption by as much as 10 percent, reversing current trends of annual energy usage growth up to 3 percent. CGHI’s ultimate goal is to work toward carbon neutral health care facilities.
The announced funding is part of $7.8 million awarded nationwide to 20 different communities by the EPA on Friday. The awards will be used to increase energy efficiency, save consumers money, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, as well as create jobs and provide green job training, the release said. Preliminary calculations estimate that projects funded by these awards will result in 135,000 fewer metric tons of greenhouse gases being emitted annually by 2012, roughly the same result as removing 25,000 passenger vehicles from the roads, and will save more than $4.5 million per year in energy costs, according to Durbin’s office.
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