Being green comes with a cost
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Call it green, call it sustainable, call it saving money, but one thing you have to call any efforts to cut costs or help the environment: a delicate balance.
There are so many easy things to do to cut paper usage or energy, but, as we all learned in physics, for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.
For instance, when the University of Pittsburgh Medical center looked into using motion detector lights in examination rooms, they found some unanticipated problems. For instance, in some of the examination rooms, patients waiting to be seen would fall asleep, the lights would go out and they would awaken disoriented and in the dark. Allison Robinson, the director of environmental initiative for the hospital chain, said that lead to nurses walking by rooms and waving their hands into them, just to keep the lights on. That system was replaced with regular switches.
Motion detector lights also can have an impact on safety, because if they are used in mostly unused hallways at night and there is an emergency, Miss Robinson said, people fleeing can slow down when they enter a dark hallway before the lights kick on.
When it comes to cutting back, Kennametal has come up with ways to reduce its use of energy and water while also reducing waste, said Christine Reitano, a spokeswoman for the Latrobe-based company.
Steps taken to reduce energy costs have been to install more energy efficient lighting in the office and plants; shutting down personal computers when people will be away from their desks for long periods of time and optimizing manufacturing machinery performance, which both improves efficiency and increases the life of the machinery.
Phyllis Barber, the Sustainability Coordinator for Highmark, said there is a cultural shift to becoming more green.
First Published March 16, 2010 12:00 am
