Quantifying energy savings in radiology: a simple approach to make the radiology department more sustainable

This study quantified the energy consumption of radiology reporting stations, identified inefficiencies and explored power management strategies to reduce energy waste and negative environmental impact.

The energy consumption of our reporting stations was monitored over 3 months in three operational states: active, standby and off modes. Three scenarios were analysed: (1) current conditions where workstations enter standby after 20 min and remain in standby overnight (baseline scenario), (2) reduced standby activation period of 5 min and (3) complete power-down of workstations overnight. The most environmentally friendly scenario was assessed both in terms of energy consumption and carbon footprint.

The baseline scenario resulted in an annual energy consumption of 55 750 kWh and a carbon footprint of 75.6 tons of CO₂. Reducing the standby activation period (scenario 2) led to a minor decrease in consumption (55 349 kWh) and emissions (75.1 tons of CO₂). The most effective strategy (scenario 3) involving powering down workstations overnight reduced annual energy consumption to 37 602 kWh (by 32.5%) and lowered carbon emissions to 51.0 tons of CO₂.

Implementing automated power-down protocols during non-working hours can reduce the overall energy consumption and environmental impact of the department. These findings support integrating sustainable power management strategies across healthcare facilities.