Skip to content
Off the Cusp

Off the Cusp

Dental industry news, trends and information from Patterson Dental.

Menu
  • Home
  • Categories
    • Business of Dentistry
      • Dental Practice Marketing
      • Practice Finance
      • Practice Growth
    • Dental Industry News
      • Industry Events
    • Dental Practice Management
      • Human Resources
    • Dental Practice Safety
      • Infection Control
    • Future of Dentistry
      • Dental Equipment
      • Dental Technology
      • CAD/CAM
  • About
    • Off The Cusp Privacy Policy
    • Off The Cusp Terms of Use
  • pattersondental.com
  • Home
  • Practice Lifestyle
  • Getting Green with Water and Energy
Dental Practice Management Office Design Practice Lifestyle

Getting Green with Water and Energy

Stephanie StatzStephanie Statz Stephanie StatzJuly 7, 2015July 2, 2015

Share

Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
LinkedIn
Email
Read Time:3 Minute, 49 Second

In the last blog entry, “All Systems Go … Green!” we took a high-level look at a couple of the sustainable design rating systems. Dental practices and equipment can be water and energy use intensive. The LEED Water Efficiency and Energy and Atmosphere categories together make up 40% or more of the points possible for project certification. Designing your practice environment to reduce the use of water and energy will go a long way toward your goal of a green dental practice.

Water use and energy use are connected. Only 1% of all the water in the world is potable. It takes energy to heat water, usually using natural gas or electricity. The more hot water is used, the more energy is used. Processing potable water is energy intensive. The water not only needs to be treated, but it also takes energy to pump it to its destination.

Energy use has a direct impact on climate and our health. The EPA estimates two-thirds of the greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. are the result of energy use by homes, buildings and industry. Particulate matter and other pollutants are also released into the air when fossil fuels are combusted to create electricity. These can trigger respiratory and cardiovascular symptoms and illnesses.

Designing a building or interior environment that conserves water and energy can get pretty complex. Your engineering and design team has the expertise to solve the more complex challenges. However, there are choices you can make as the dental practice owner to make a significant contribution to meeting your water and energy conservation goals.

Choose to locate your practice in a building designed and operated to sustainable standards

  • Buildings that are LEED certified or built to other sustainable standards will have infrastructure and systems in place to reduce environmental impacts. Sustainably designed buildings generally provide added benefits to lessees, so building owners will advertise these attributes to potential tenants.

Establish sustainable purchasing policies for equipment that supports energy and water conservation.

  • Buy equipment that is ENERGY STAR rated when available. ENERGY STAR products are third-party certified to ensure that they meet the highest energy standards.
  • When ENERGY STAR products are not available, choose the most efficient option. Here’s an example: A traditional dental light with a quartz-halogen xenon light source uses 95 watts. A LED dental light uses only 15 watts, has a higher light intensity and produces light at the same color temperature as the traditional version. There is an added energy saving benefit of LED dental lights. They produce less than 10% of the heat of a conventional dental lamp – lessening the air conditioning required.
  • Install energy efficient lighting. The choice of ambient lighting fixtures also has a significant impact on energy use. Lighting technology has changed drastically over the past few years. Incandescent light bulbs are no longer being produced. Fluorescent lighting, which uses much less energy with bulbs that last much longer than incandescent, are common. New LED lighting products are flowing into the market every day. LEDs use a fraction of the energy fluorescent lighting uses, and don’t contain mercury. They also last tens of thousands of hours compared to fluorescent, which are typically rated at 6,000 to 10,000 hours.
  • Install steam sterilizers and waterless vacuums to make significant reductions in the water used by your dental practice. Medical Facilities & Laboratories produced by The Alliance for Water Efficiency gives a great example. It explains that a traditional wet dental vacuum uses between 360 and 720 gallons of water per day (gpd). A dry vacuum uses no water. A dry vacuum also needs one-third to one-half of the electricity to operate as a wet vacuum and doesn’t need to be plumbed for water. The benefits of a dry vacuum add up to significant reductions in water, energy and other resource use.
  • Like ENERGY STAR, the EPA has another partnership program called WaterSense. This program helps consumers to find easy ways to save water. Like ENERGY STAR, WaterSense plumbing products can carry the WaterSense label when they certified to operate well and are highly water efficient.

Whether you are planning a new practice and/or office space or have an existing dental practice, water and energy use have a big impact on your practice’s bottom line. ENERGY STAR has a website for small business owners. The site has excellent unbiased information and tools to help you find even more ways to reduce energy waste and costs to meet your business goals … all while helping to protect the natural environment.

Stephanie StatzStephanie Statz

About Post Author

Stephanie Statz

Stephanie is curious about everything. This natural curiosity and her passion for the health and well-being of the earth and all its creatures, has fueled her 18 year career as an interior designer for health environments of all kinds. She applies this to her design work, guiding her clients to design solutions which support their processes while celebrating their vision.“Design impacts how patients, families and staff interact and feel.” A believer that collaboration, respect and a sense of humor are the keys to success in work and life, Stephanie continues to hone these skills through equestrian pursuits with her horse Kramer. “Communicating with a 1200lb teammate, without a common verbal language, teaches me the value of trust, respect and collaboration in a very powerful way. And yes, he’s named after that Kramer.”
http://www.rsparch.com
Total
0
Shares
Share 0
Tweet 0
Pin it 0
Share 0
Tagged cost savings, green design, office design, practice management

Post navigation

Previous

Previous post:

Summer smiles across America

Next

Next post:

Healthy Dental Habits for Kids Start with the Toothbrush

Subscribe

* indicates required

Recent posts

  • 5 Proven Ways To Keep Patients Engaged, Returning And Referring
  • 3 Steps to Consider When Selling A Multilocation Practice
  • 3 Reasons To Explore Tech-Savvy Cavity Prep
  • 3 Ways A Complimentary Eaglesoft Wellness Check Can Help Advance Your Practice!
  • How to Detect and Prevent Microleakage in Dental Restorations

Search Off the Cusp

Close
Menu
  • Home
  • Categories
    • Business of Dentistry
      • Dental Practice Marketing
      • Practice Finance
      • Practice Growth
    • Dental Industry News
      • Industry Events
    • Dental Practice Management
      • Human Resources
    • Dental Practice Safety
      • Infection Control
    • Future of Dentistry
      • Dental Equipment
      • Dental Technology
      • CAD/CAM
  • About
    • Off The Cusp Privacy Policy
    • Off The Cusp Terms of Use
  • pattersondental.com

Related Post

Too Noisy? Try This Vacuum and Compressor Duo

February 1, 2023February 2, 2023

3 ways to build stronger relationships with your patients

October 26, 2022October 26, 2022

7 tried-and-true tactics to curb revenue-crippling no-shows

October 25, 2022October 25, 2022

How to reduce cancellations and increase case acceptance with patient engagement

October 24, 2022October 24, 2022

The 3 E’s to dental patient retention and treatment acceptance

September 28, 2022September 28, 2022

Building out a fully digital dream office with help from Patterson

July 26, 2022August 11, 2022
Copyright Patterson Dental. All rights reserved.