Building a healthier tomorrow Innovative green practices lead the way to better health

Greener environment, healthier members Healthy environments are essential to providing a total health experience. As

a nationally recognized leader in green health care, we’ve been putting green

building standards and strategies into practice for years. Here are some of the

steps we’re currently taking to help reduce our carbon footprint, control costs,

and offer members a healthier, more natural environment for care—now and well

into the future.

Conserving and creating energy

Our medical centers are built with the health of members and the environment in

mind—rubber floors prevent slips and don’t require harsh cleansers, carpets are

free of toxic polyvinyl chloride, and drought-resistant plants help us save millions

of gallons of water. And we’re using renewable and clean energy sources to further

reduce our carbon footprint:

• Solar panels at 15 of our facilities will produce an average of 12% of the facilities’ power—enough electricity to power 1,900 homes a year

• By generating two megawatts of power onsite at several medical centers, we’re improving energy consumption by 34% and reducing carbon dioxide emissions by nearly half

• New lighting systems and heat-reducing window-film installations help us save roughly $1 million each year in energy costs

Green at every level

Designing environmentally friendly hospitals and medical facilities is only part of

the picture. Being green extends to the work we do at every level, every day:

• Our electronic health record—Kaiser Permanente HealthConnect®—has eliminated 2 million pounds of paper and 68 tons of X-ray film, and lowered the gasoline consumption of our members by 3 million gallons a year

• Converting from wet-process X-ray equipment to digital imaging machines saves 130 million gallons of water every year

Award-winning efforts

In 2011, Practice Greenhealth

awarded 17 Environmental

Excellence Awards to

Kaiser Permanente facilities

for outstanding achievements

in reducing waste, eliminating

mercury, and improving

environmental performance.

Practice Greenhealth provides

solutions for the health care

industry to create safer and

greener workplaces and

communities.

When our Modesto Medical

Center opened in 2008, it

was lauded as one of the

greenest health care facilities

in North America.

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kp.orgBusiness Marketing Communications76926 July 2011

A better future for our communities

Creating green environments for our members also helps the communities we

serve. In addition to using green building and care practices, we’re:

• Partnering with local growers to support sustainable agriculture while providing

fresh meals to patients at 21 of our Northern California hospitals

• Helping the community eat well and make good food choices by holding

farmers’ markets at more than 30 Kaiser Permanente facilities

• Recycling electronic waste with an annual six-day collection of e-waste at

20 Kaiser Permanente sites

To learn more about our green efforts, visit kp.org/green or contact your

Kaiser Permanente representative.

The U.S. Environmental

Protection Agency’s

Environmental Achievement

Award recognized

Kaiser Permanente for

our commitment to

environmental protection.

Information in this publication was accurate at the time of production. However, details may have changed since our release date. For the most current information, contact your sales executive or account manager.

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