With a commitment to sustainable development firmly entrenched in its business ethos, Mediclinic Southern Africa is constantly exploring ways of improving its energy efficiency and thereby its carbon footprint.
With this in mind, Mediclinic participated in the National Energy Barometer Survey for the first time in the utility year 2011 as a means of benchmarking the energy consumption of the hospitals and buildings within its portfolio.
It is the only private hospital group to do so.
“We are always investigating energy saving initiatives and implement them where possible. The results of the Energy Barometer Survey have assisted us in identifying the hospitals with the best potential for energy saving,” says Petrus Swanepoel, chairman of Mediclinic’s energy initiatives committee.
This information is used in the group energy saving strategy.
“Being able to assign an energy barometer status level to the top three ranking Mediclinic buildings creates greater employee awareness and participation in improving our environmental performance,” Swanepoel says.
Mediclinic also measures its performance against internationally recognised standards. A total of 51 of the 52 of its hospitals have been trained in the ISO 14001:2004 Environmental Management System, of which 38 hospitals have been certified by NQA (London).
The 2012 Utility Year National Energy Barometer Survey is the fourth to be conducted and opens in the second quarter of 2013, when companies can start recording the energy consumption in their buildings and measure this against others in a similar industry.
Entering the national survey is free. Charges only apply for internal building benchmarking reports from the National Energy Barometer Survey, which can be found on the website.
Participation has grown from 20 companies when it was launched in 2009 to over 100 in the latest survey.
The barometer developers, Energy Cybernetics, together with the National Energy Efficiency Agency, encourages companies to participate in this audit to institute changes in their energy management that not only will have a positive impact on their bottom lines, but also on the national economy.
The data collected will also provide a platform for comparison and learning within their industry.
