BETHLEHEM, PA – St. Luke’s Hospital & Health Network has purchased 10 percent of its electricity from renewable energy sources, avoiding more than $1 million in  annual electricity purchase costs through a competitive electronic procurement process run on the World Energy Exchange.

The Bethlehem, Pa.-based health system will also reduce its carbon dioxide output by 2,900 tons per year, according to officials.

The health system is participating in the reverse auction component of the Premier healthcare alliance’s SPHERE collaborative. The large-scale, Web-based electronic reverse auction for energy is led by Practice Greenhealth’s Healthcare Clean Energy Exchange (PGH/HCEE) and conducted by its partner, World Energy Solutions, Inc.

“The reverse auction process enabled us to buy our electricity from renewable sources for the same price as the traditional electricity generated from fossil fuels,” said Larry Jennings, director of purchasing and contracting at St. Luke’s. “This is an important objective around our overall strategy for reducing our carbon footprint and making a positive contribution to public health.”

Premier’s SPHERE (Securing Proven Healthcare Energy Reduction for the Ecosystem) collaborative focuses on reducing the healthcare industry’s energy use and greenhouse gas emissions through sharing of best practices, educational programs and tools and resources for efficient energy management.

Reducing energy consumption and increasing the use of energy from renewable sources would help reduce medical costs associated with preventable illnesses associated with fossil fuel emissions, say officials.

“Including renewable energy as part of healthcare’s energy mix, as St Luke’s has done, not only reduces healthcare’s impact on the environment, but it can also be considered an extension of efforts to improve the quality of and efficiency of healthcare,” said Gina Pugliese, RN, vice president of the Premier Safety Institute.

St. Luke’s purchase of energy from renewable sources exceeds the current Alternative Energy Portfolio Standards Act of 2004 in Pennsylvania, which requires organizations to generate 6.7 percent of their electricity supply from renewable energy sources by May 31, 2010, escalating to 18 percent by May 31, 2021. Nearly half of all states have mandated renewable portfolio standards with minimum percentages of power required from renewable sources by a certain date.

“An HCEE reverse auction for energy helps to cost-effectively lock in stable pricing and provide the opportunity to increase the percentage of green/renewable energy purchases, thereby reducing greenhouse gases and the negative public health impacts of burning fossil fuels,” said Nick DeDominicis, director of the HCEE.