Sustainability Uci Health Orange County Ca

Bonisiwe Shabane

-Oct 29, 2025, 8:10 AM

sustainability uci health orange county ca

At UCI Health, caring for our patients and our community means caring for our environment. We believe that sustainability, social equity and economic vitality are inextricably linked. As one of the largest academic health systems in California, we are answering the urgent call to build a healthcare model that is sustainable and resilient to the growing threat of climate change. By actively incorporating sustainable practices into our operations — reducing operating room emissions and medical waste, for example — we create a healthier, brighter future for Orange County and beyond. UCI Health recognizes the critical link between the health of our patients and the health of the environment. As a forever organization, we are committed to modeling environmental stewardship and promoting the health and resilience of the people and communities we serve, while safeguarding the environment for future generations.

We are dedicated to advancing our vision for sustainability through discovery, innovation and excellence. The University of California has established goals in 13 areas of sustainable practices that focus on responsible stewardship of resources, demonstrated leadership in sustainable business practices, and centering equity, climate and environmental justice in... These goals can be found in the UC Sustainable Practices Policy. Below, find the progress of UCI Health across several impact areas and in relation to the policy's goals. More information can be found in the UCI Health Sustainability Annual Report. Health and wellbeing are linked to environmental health.

UCI prioritizes human health through its built environment and initiatives. The built environment is intentionally designed in a way that prioritizes air quality and access to natural areas. The campus is built with the naturescape intentionally accessible for all to enjoy. The UC Policy on Sustainable Practices sets forth guidelines for campuses to follow in supporting healthy campuses. These include UC Healthy Vending Guidelines, policy recommendations, and more. UCI was one of eight campuses to first adopt the Okanagan Charter.

This initiative is multi-disciplinary and intended to help UCI become a globally recognized health promoting university. UCI Health is the only academic health system in Orange County and dedicated to sustainability operations. The new UCI Health – Irvine facility is the first all-electric hospital in the nation. SSIHI is committed to reimagining the future of healthcare by pioneering an interdisciplinary, evidence-informed, integrative approach to health and wellness. In fiscal year 2024, UCI Health continued its commitment to sustainability. Construction on the nation’s first all-electric medical center continued, completing the fully electric Joe C.

Wen and Family Advanced Care Center. UCI Health continued its decarbonization efforts to meet the White House Climate Pledge to reduce emissions 50% by 2030. In an effort to reduce anesthetic gas emissions, UCI Health transitioned away from piped nitrogen dioxide to administer through canisters in all operating rooms, resulting in a 26% decrease of purchased nitrous oxide from... The location completed a decarbonization study to determine a roadmap to reduce emissions by 90% by 2045. UCI Health increased its medical device reprocessing efforts, doubling cost savings to $1.6 million and successfully diverting over 10 tons of waste, underscoring a commitment to both financial performance and environmental stewardship. To increase the percentage of clean energy vehicles in its fleet, Parking & Transportation Services replaced two fossil fuel-powered patient shuttles with two electric shuttles and has two more on order for fiscal year...

The Facilities Department continued to add bicycles to its 35 human-powered fleet and replaced all combustion landscaping equipment with electric equipment. Additionally, UCI Health added bicycle rack infrastructure to the main hospital campus and off-site clinics. To continue building out its electric vehicle infrastructure, UCI Health added 17 dual port charging stations with a project to install 10 more charging stations planned for fiscal year 2025. UC Irvine Health saw a decrease in its EUI in the calendar year 2023. UCI Health has been repeatedly recognized for its sustainability commitment by leading national organizations. The Environmental Excellence Awards celebrate hospitals who have not only earned an award for all around sustainability achievement, but who have also been identified as the top scoring programs for each category of sustainability.

UCI Health has been recognized in the climate and energy categories every year since 2022. UCI Medical Center has been recognized as one of the nation's top hospitals leading the sustainability transformation in healthcare. UCI Medical Center received the Making Medicine Mercury Free Award for making significant steps toward eliminating mercury. The Greenhealth Emerald Award recognizes outstanding hospitals from within the Partner for Change applicants. This competitive award recognizes the top 20% of applicants and is focused on advanced sustainability programs and exemplary scores in a range of categories. 2024 has been a landmark year for UCI Health, Orange County’s only academic health system, as it transformed into one of the largest healthcare networks in California.

Through strategic expansions, cutting-edge facilities, and a commitment to sustainability, UCI Health is bringing world-class medical care closer to the community than ever before. In March, UCI Health made history by acquiring four hospitals and associated outpatient locations from Tenet Healthcare Corporation, significantly broadening its reach. These facilities were rebranded as: This acquisition added 858 beds, bringing UCI Health’s total capacity to 1,317 beds—a massive leap forward in serving more patients across the region. “We are investing in building a healthier future for people that harnesses the power of advanced medicine with the convenience of care available close to home,” said UCI Health President and CEO Chad T. Lefteris.

This summer marked the opening of the first two buildings at UCI Health – Irvine, a state-of-the-art medical campus under construction at Jamboree Road and Birth Streets. With our free press under threat and federal funding for public media gone, your support matters more than ever. Help keep the LAist newsroom strong, become a monthly member or increase your support today . Hospitals are notorious for their greenhouse gas emissions, accounting for around 5% of emissions globally. The UCI Medical Center in Orange relies on natural gas, a greenhouse gas that’s more potent than carbon dioxide, for about 25% of its power. And that’s why UCI Health is touting its latest facility as the “hospital of the future.”

In December, the country’s first all-electric hospital will open in Irvine along the San Joaquin Marsh. Joe Brothman, director of UCI Health general services, said the hospital will adopt a “healthcare without harm” model. “The operation of this campus will have no emissions,” he said. “The energy that we're utilizing is all green electricity that we're importing.” A recent trend report showed hospital executives are still holding strong to sustainability-related commitments regardless of federal changes. University of California, Irvine (UCI) Health is embodying that with its new all-electric hospital, set to open Dec.

10. UCI Health says the new hospital is the first all-electric acute care hospital of its size in the country, featuring renewable solar park structures, electric instead of gas for utilities like heating and hot... And electricity isn’t the only sustainable feature at the 350,000-square-foot, 144-bed hospital, Brothman said. The hospital also has rainwater collection built into its landscaping that uses recycled water, bird-friendly glass, around 87% outdoor water reduction and about 38.5% indoor water reduction, and energy efficient equipment for lighting along... “It’s a significant cost to make this all-electric [hospital], but we do anticipate, in the long run, that we will have a cost savings, especially with the rising costs of natural gas,” Brothman said. UCI Medical Center has been nationally recognized as a five-star hospital and a top 10 performer in the 2023 Bernard A.

Birnbaum, MD, Quality Leadership Annual Ranking by Vizient Inc. It was ranked in the top 10 for comprehensive academic medical centers in the U.S. for inpatient care. And UCI Health’s outpatient care network was ranked among the top 10 ambulatory systems nationwide. Vizient analyzes data for 116 centers in its comprehensive academic medical center cohort. The University of California recently announced that Dr.

David Rubin will become executive vice president for UC Health, the nation’s largest public academic health system. The post focuses on ensuring the health system is serving as a partner with the state to realize health improvement goals, helping increase fiscal resilience of UC’s health campuses, advancing distinction and excellence, and... Rubin starts Oct. 23 and will report to Drake. Harambee Gathering: Welcome Back Celebration Friday, 4 p.m. (sponsored by the Center for Black Cultures Resources & Research)

Visit today.uci.edu to see and submit event listings. Events of general interest will be shared in UCI Digest two days before they occur. The Orange County Register, Sept. 23 Cited: Megan Witbracht, associate project scientist, and Joshua Grill, professor of neurobiology and behavior The all-electric, zero emission UCI Health Irvine Hospital paves the way for lowering the impacts of future health facilities. When the $1.3-billion UCI Health - Irvine Hospital & Ambulatory Care Center makes its debut this December, the project will be one of a kind.

The facility, on the campus of the University of California, Irvine (UCI), will be the first all-electric, zero-emission hospital in the nation. In going all-electric, Brian Pratt, campus architect at UC Irvine, says the project team looked at the UC system’s goal of decarbonizing its 10 campuses and six academic health centers by 2045, and “we... And so our campus leadership basically said, ‘Let’s set the standard for the future of hospitals.’” That ambitious goal also created major construction challenges for the CO Architects + Hensel Phelps design-build team, which worked in close collaboration with UCI Health. In September, the team reached substantial completion on the project and officially handed the ceremonial master key to UCI Health leadership. The new facility will offer a 350,000-sq-ft specialty hospital, a 220,000-sq-ft ambulatory care center (ACC) and parking structure, but the star of the show is the massive, 31,848-sq-ft central utility plant that supplies power...

Sustainability Uci Health Orange County Ca

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