Action plan for the mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions in the hospital-based health care of the Hellenic Army.

Climate change is a growing threat for human health and well-being, one that will seriously impact and potentially disrupt all economic sectors and supply chains, such as trade, tourism, agriculture, forestry, and fisheries. The environmental impact of the delivery of medical and hospital care, which generates its own greenhouse gas emissions, needs to be examined and analyzed in detail in order to design and implement effective mitigation actions and measures. Hospital internal energy use processes include the energy consumed for hospital operation, such as lighting, heating, cooking, waste treatment, and other functions associated with the logistical and operational support of hospitals. The present research work, which follows the assessment undertaken in a previous study of the transport activities of the 401 Military General Hospital of Athens (401 MGHA), focuses on the carbon footprint of the stationary emission sources of the 401 MGHA; it serves as a second step in the development of an action plan for the mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions in the hospital-based health care of the Hellenic (Greek) Army. A portfolio of energy saving and emission reduction actions is proposed and mapped according to their abatement cost and greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction potential. The highest decrease of GHG emissions is expected to be materialized by the decarbonization of the Greek power sector due to the lignite phase-out and increased share of low carbon fuels and renewable energy sources. Significant emission reduction potential could also be achieved by the replacement of face-to-face hospital visits by telemedicine, primarily by reducing transport-associated emissions. Furthermore, a number of key performance indicators (KPI) are proposed as simple and easily monitored metrics of the hospital's performance towards its sustainable low carbon objectives. Specific KPIs per mitigation action are presented, as well as a general KPI that covers all mitigation actions and sources of emissions in the form of "tCO2eq per patient" or "tCO2eq per hospitalization day."

Land-use planning in the vicinity of major accident hazard installations in Greece.

Land-use planning, as concerns the prevention and limitation of the consequences of possible major accidents from industrial installations, is an essential mechanism for dealing with actual or potential conflicts between sources of risk, such as potentially hazardous industrial developments, and surrounding land-uses. The objective of this paper is to present a decision making methodology that is suitable for assisting urban and spatial planning in the vicinity of hazardous installations and therefore covers the directions of Article 12 of the European Council Directive 96/82/EC (the so-called SEVESO II directive). The proposed methodology was designed to address the particularities of the Greek case, regarding the type and availability of risk and spatial data. It incorporates a broad set of multiple and conflicting criteria that arise in land-use planning decisions, through the application of a well known multi-criteria decision analysis method (ELECTRE TRI). Additionally, it is easy to use (comprised of simple steps) and can be readily incorporated into Geographical Information System based platforms.