JOHN Hunter Hospital will soon be home to the largest solar panel installation of any hospital in the country.
The $3.2 million solar panel installation at John Hunter Hospital is set to be the biggest in Australia, with solar panels covering 12,000 square metres - or about 85 per cent - of the hospital's roof space.
Hunter New England Health's director of infrastructure and planning, Dr Ramsey Awad, said the provision of health care contributed about 7 per cent of Australia's CO2 emissions - the equivalent of the CO2 emissions in the state of South Australia and "half of all emissions" produced by the construction industry in Australia.
"We're obviously not the biggest contributor, but we are a significant contributor," he said.
"At Hunter New England Health, we are developing a comprehensive sustainability strategy where we will become carbon and waste neutral. We haven't set a time frame for that yet, but the installation of the solar panels is one of many projects we are rolling out as part of that broader strategy.
"Our core business is a healthy community, now and into the future.
"We want to be able to say, as an organisation, that we do no harm, and part of that includes ensuring we are not contributing to global warming."
Installation of the solar panels would begin in June/July, and it is expected to be completed by the end of the year.
"The panels are going to produce about 15 per cent of the electricity that John Hunter uses," Dr Awad said.
"The hospital uses a lot of electricity... John Hunter Hospital represents about 50 per cent of the Hunter New England Health district's CO2 emissions. So it is going to be the first of many other installations we will be rolling out in the region in the coming years."
Dr Awad said he was proud of Hunter New England Health's commitment to reducing its carbon footprint.
"The World Health Organisation says 25 per cent of all human disease can be linked to environmental factors now, and for children it is 32 per cent," Dr Awad said. "It's all well and good for us to look after patients when they come in, but we need to be looking after the broader community, and making sure we are not contributing to that by our sheer existence."
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