Littauer strives to care for mother earth, too.

Dyana Perez reporting

Capital News 9

First aired April 16, 2009

GLOVERSVILLE, N.Y. — “We’re constantly thinking green all the time. Every time we change a process, every time we evaluate a new piece of equipment” said David Bruhns, Director of Engineering.

Here at Nathan Litteaur Hospital, it’s all about being ecofriendly. Over the years, the facility has come up with simple and creative ways to stay green.

“One of the initiatives is actually in the cafeteria. We’ve started actually selling the cups from the register rather than allowing our customers to take them. That’s reduced our usage per week from eight cases of foam cups per week, which is equal to 8,000 cups and reduced it almost in half,” said Timothy Forte.

And hospital officials say switching from old-fashioned cord mops to micro-fiber mops has saved thousands of gallons of water. “You are not re-dipping your mop. Like the old mops, we had to re dip them and the water got dirty .We have saved by switching 24,000 gallons a year. Three pool sizes,” said Debrah Fountain.

The hospital also uses a chemical free floor stripper, which is non-toxic and odor free. And in nutritional services, the facility has replaced equipment that uses less chemicals, energy and water.

“One of the biggest highlights, I think, for energy savings, is our pot scrubber was using a full load of 95 amps with a booster heater and now the replacement we are using 29 amps with the new unit we put in place.” Forte said.

Hospital engineers are also giving out tips on things you can do at home that can help cut your energy bill significantly.

“Periodically do a cleaning of the condenser coil behind or under the refrigerator or freezer because. So have done some measurements and studies that if you clean three or four times a year, that we use six to eight percent less electricity,” Bruhns said.

Hospital officials say these simple techniques can make a big difference in helping keep a safe environment.