Greening Veterinary Practice: A Pathway to Zero-Carbon Energy Emissions

Presentation Description / Summary: 
Energy is vital to every aspect of practicing veterinary medicine from space heating and cooling the hospital, heating water, all our electrical requirements, staff commute, business and CE travel, transport of clients and patients, and the manufacture and delivery of medical supplies.  
In this presentation, we will discuss the problem of our ever-increasing demand for energy, the associated escalating carbon emissions and pollution, and the corollary detrimental health effects on us, our patients, and the planet. We will then take an overview of ways to transition to a reduced-carbon energy economy by decoupling our dependence on fossil fuels and increasing our reliance on renewable, low-carbon energy sources. 
We will show in detail how to use a US-specific veterinary carbon calculator to determine your energy-based carbon emission hotspots and then highlight a multitude of practical ways to substantially reduce your hospital's impact including transitioning to 100% renewable electricity, electrifying the hospital and eliminating on-site fossil fuel combustion, transport electrification, and an array of energy efficiency actions that can measurably reduce your energy use and costs. Subsequently, the carbon calculator can be used to accurately determine how successful your emission reduction efforts were.