Abstract

Users’ journeys to healthcare centers generate high greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions into the atmosphere. The aim of this work is to calculate the carbon footprint generated by these trips, considering different means of transport and average distances traveled. For this purpose, data corresponding to six rural healthcare centers in Extremadura (Spain), which provide health services to less than 15,000 inhabitants, were collected. Buildings that have been considered had a built-up area between 1,328 and 3,192 m² and staff’s size ranged from 14 to 38. An average of 400 people was surveyed daily at each healthcare center for 25 random days over one year. Average results are 12.93 kg CO₂eq/inhabitant, 50.52 kg CO₂eq/m², 2.97 kg CO₂eq/user and 1.08 tCO₂eq/worker. Equations for estimating GHG emissions in terms of functional parameters of the healthcare centers were also defined. The transportation-to-healthcare-centers breakdown entails travel by foot (33.5%), by single car (40.4%), by shared car (25.1%) and alternative vehicles (less than 1%). Moreover, it was found that sharing vehicles reduce average annual emissions by 20.5%. Finally, savings obtained in different scenarios increasing pedestrian were analyzed. This study allows to identify opportunities to reduce these GHG emissions, which lead to a lower environmental impact of health activity and is useful to calculate carbon footprint due to the operation of a healthcare center.

摘要

用户前往医疗中心的旅程会向大气中排放大量温室气体 (GHG)。这项工作的目的是计算这些旅行产生的碳足迹，考虑到不同的交通工具和平均旅行距离。为此目的，收集了与埃斯特雷马杜拉（西班牙）六个农村医疗中心对应的数据，这些中心为不到 15,000 名居民提供医疗服务。被考虑的建筑物的建筑面积在 1,328 到 3,192 m ²之间，员工人数从 14 到 38 人不等。一年中，每个医疗中心每天平均对 400 人进行 25 天的随机调查。平均结果为 12.93 kg CO ₂ eq/居民、50.52 kg CO ₂ eq/m ²、2.97 kg CO₂ eq/用户和 1.08 tCO ₂ eq/工人。还定义了根据医疗保健中心的功能参数估算温室气体排放的方程。前往医疗中心的交通方式包括步行（33.5%）、单车（40.4%）、共享汽车（25.1%）和替代车辆（不到1%）。此外，共享汽车每年平均减少 20.5% 的排放量。最后，分析了在增加行人的不同场景中获得的节省。这项研究可以确定减少这些温室气体排放的机会，从而降低健康活动对环境的影响，并且有助于计算由于医疗保健中心的运营而产生的碳足迹。