Energy and Carbon

Most recent entries |

  1. Solar-Assisted Hemodialysis

    John W. M. Agar, Anthony Perkins, Alwie Tjipto Published online before print January 2012, doi: 10.2215/​CJN.09810911 CJASN January 2012. Hemodialysis resource use—especially water and power, smarter processing and reuse of postdialysis waste, and improved ecosensitive building design, insulation, and space use—all need much closer attention. Regarding power, as supply diminishes and costs rise, alternative power augmentation for dialysis services becomes attractive. The first 12 months of a solar-assisted dialysis program in southeastern Australia is reported.

    from SHEBA on 24 January 2012 | Direct link | Comment on this

  2. The carbon footprints of home and in-center maintenance hemodialysis in the United Kingdom

    CONNOR, A., LILLYWHITE, R. and COOKE, M. W. , Hemodialysis International (2011), doi: 10.1111/j.1542-4758.2010.00523.x The aim of this study was to determine the carbon footprints of the differing modalities and treatment regimes used to deliver maintenance hemodialysis (HD), in order to inform carbon reduction strategies at the level of both individual treatments and HD programs. Thrice weekly in-center HD has a carbon footprint of 3.8 ton CO2 Eq per patient per year. The majority of emissions arise within the medical equipment (37%), energy use (21%), and patient travel (20%) sectors. The carbon footprint of providing home HD varies with the regime.

    from SHEBA on 14 January 2011 | Direct link | Comment on this

  3. Inhalation anaesthetics and climate change

    Sulbaek Andersen MP, Sander SP, Nielsen OJ, Wagner DS, Sanford TJ Jr, Wallington TJ. Br J Anaesth. 2010 Dec;105(6):760-6. Epub 2010 Oct 8 On the basis of the derived 100 yr GWPs, the average climate impact per anaesthetic procedure at the University of Michigan is the same as the emission of ∼22 kg CO2. We estimate that the global emissions of inhalation anaesthetics have a climate impact which is comparable with that from the CO2 emissions from one coal-fired power plant or 1 million passenger cars.

    from SHEBA on 18 January 2011 | Direct link | Comment on this

  4. Climate effect of inhaled anaesthetics

    Shine KP. Br J Anaesth. 2010 Dec;105(6):731-3

    from SHEBA on 18 January 2011 | Direct link | Comment on this

  5. Global warming potential of inhaled anesthetics: application to clinical use

    Ryan SM, Nielsen CJ. Anesth Analg. 2010 Jul;111(1):92-8. Epub 2010 Jun 2 Under comparable and common clinical conditions, desflurane has a greater potential impact on global warming than either isoflurane or sevoflurane. N2O alone produces a sizable greenhouse gas contribution relative to sevoflurane or isoflurane. Additionally, 60% N2O combined with potent inhaled anesthetics to deliver 1 MAC of anesthetic substantially increases the environmental impact of sevoflurane and isoflurane, and decreases that of desflurane. N2O is destructive to the ozone layer as well as possessing GWP; it continues to have impact over a longer timeframe, and may not be an environmentally sound tradeoff for desflurane. From our calculations, avoiding N2O and unnecessarily high fresh gas flow rates can reduce the environmental impact of inhaled anesthetics.

    from SHEBA on 18 January 2011 | Direct link | Comment on this