NEW YORK, NY May 14, 2009 —Thirty-five of the city’s largest public and private hospitals are joining Mayor Bloomberg’s effort to reduce carbon emissions. Rohit Aggarwala is spear-heading the initiative, which has already launched programs for Broadway theaters and university campuses. He says the hospitals account for about two percent of building emissions city wide – a good-size chunk from a few dozen buildings

AGGARWALA: Hospitals have very specific reasons why they’re so energy intensive: 24/7 lighting, 24/7 operations, critical life-saving equipment, all the monitoring that goes on.

The hospital coalition will start by conducting an inventory of energy consumption and CO2 emissions. The overall goal is to reduce discharges by 30 percent over the next decade.

The mayor’s goal is to reduce the entire city’s emissions by that amount by the year 2030.