Green Healthcare: How EV Charging Solutions Power a Sustainable Future

Sustainability measures are critical for hospitals and campuses as they directly impact the well-being of patients, students, staff, and the surrounding community. Hospitals are energy-intensive facilities, operating 24/7 with significant demands on resources like electricity, water, and medical supplies. Implementing sustainability practices, such as energy efficiency, waste reduction, and the integration of renewable energy sources not only reduces operational costs but also enhances the quality of care by creating healthier environments. 

Some hospitals are installing solar panels, wind turbines, or geothermal systems to generate their own clean energy. Gundersen Health System in Wisconsin became the first energy-independent health system in the U.S. by investing in wind, solar, and biogas projects, significantly reducing its carbon footprint. Stony Brook University Hospital is moving forward with a nature-forward design, incorporating native plants, a memorial garden, and an on-site vegetable garden as these green spaces encourage physical activity, decrease urban temperatures, and promote mental health. Additionally, hospitals that focus on reducing emissions from their transportation footprint by installing electric vehicle (EV) charging infrastructure or incorporating electric vehicles into their fleet are also impacting the well-being of patients, students, staff, and the surrounding community. 

Resource Innovations (RI) is working with healthcare partners to create scalable, reliable, and equitable EV charging and fleet electrification plans at healthcare facilities and hospital campuses. Our goal is to help foster EV adoption while providing accessible and affordable charging solutions for employees, students, patients, and visitors. This effort will lead to increased EV usage and decrease local emissions and pollution on campus and in the surrounding communities.  

A Vision for Campus Electrification 

Our process starts with an evaluation of current technology and operations, allowing us to recommend the most suitable charging technologies, ownership, and charging policies for each institution. Hospital campus visitors, employees, patients, and students each have different charging needs to consider, but by collaborating with key stakeholders—such as engineering teams, facilities teams, sustainability departments, parking operators, and contractors—we can advise on solutions and strategies to meet the unique needs of each institution. 

RI emphasizes affordable, sustainable growth, ensuring a steady expansion of charging infrastructure. Our phased approach begins with planning a cost-effective pilot program where we set a short-term goal for a campus to deploy a small-scale EV charging project within one of their parking facilities based on assessing existing infrastructure, forecasted utilization, incentive eligibility, procurement and vendor policies, and input from various stakeholder teams. This gradually scales into a comprehensive, customized plan that looks farther out and integrates EV charging planning at different locations on campus based on driver needs and forecasted adoption rates and EV policy. Clients then have a starting point to experience the process of procuring and building EV charging and can glean feedback from staff, patients, and visitors to inform future deployments and planning. RI’s close working relationships with utilities across the country are also key to making these electrification plans successful and more affordable as RI assists in capturing available incentives from the local utility and government.  

As part of the master plan, RI’s fleet electrification experts engage with hospital and campus fleet managers to assess the feasibility of fleet electrification and understand and incorporate charging needs of an electrified hospital fleet into the overall campus strategy.  

Shaping the Future of Healthcare and Education 

A survey by Boston Consulting Group in 2023 found that 13% of EV drivers could access workplace charging station but did not have charging at home. Of all the survey participants, 62% had access to both home charging and workplace charging and 26% of their charging hours occurred at work. Additionally, a 2024 ChargeLab survey showed that even among drivers with home charging, 60% of respondents must charge at work or at a public station weekly to be able to undertake their commutes. As EV adoption rises, more hospitals will be looking for convenient charging solutions as part of their sustainability strategies as well as their employee and visitor satisfaction strategies.  

Hospitals and campuses partnering with RI will benefit from a robust, reliable, and equitable EV charging master plan that will support employees, visitors, and fleet operations; significantly reducing carbon emissions and positioning these institutions as leaders in the clean energy transition. 

Contact RI today to learn how we can help build a sustainable, scalable EV charging master plan that meets your institution's unique needs and supports a cleaner, greener future.