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Hackensack Meridian Health, the state’s largest integrated health network, is furthering its longstanding commitment to a healthier, more sustainable community with a groundbreaking, multiyear solar energy initiative. As part of a 30-year Energy-as-a-Service partnership with Bernhard, one of the nation’s largest privately owned infrastructure firms, Hackensack Meridian is set to own the largest solar and battery energy storage system of any not-for-profit health care provider in the U.S.

The agreement announced April 19 encompasses $134 million in infrastructure improvements and includes the addition of 50,000 American-made solar panels across Hackensack Meridian’s network of 18 hospitals, starting at Hackensack University Medical Center in Bergen County.

Once the entire 30-megawatt system is in place, Hackensack Meridian and Bernhard expect it will result in a 10% reduction in carbon emissions, 25% decrease in purchased electricity and 33% in guaranteed energy savings.

For Hackensack Meridian’s CEO, Robert Garrett, the partnership “marks a significant milestone in sustainable health care practices and underscores Hackensack Meridian Health‘s unwavering commitment to energy resilience and environmental sustainability.”

Ed Tinsley, CEO of Louisiana-based Bernhard, said the firm is “proud to embark on this transformative journey with Hackensack Meridian Health” and use its expertise “to deliver a turnkey Energy-as-a-Service solution that will not only enhance operational efficiency but also contribute significantly to environmental sustainability.”

“This partnership puts Hackensack Meridian Health on course to meet critical sustainability and energy resilience goals – complementing the State’s initiatives to invest in renewable energy and reduce our carbon footprint,” said Gov. Phil Murphy. “I commend both Hackensack Meridian Health and Bernhard for embarking on this important partnership to bolster the energy infrastructure of New Jersey’s healthcare industry, ensuring hospitals are prepared to continue delivering quality care.”

According to Hackensack Meridian and Bernhard, the initiative sets the stage for a greener and more resilient future in health care, while also driving economic growth by way of construction jobs.

The 50,000 panels – which Garrett said is equivalent to roughly 27 NFL-sized football fields – will be added to either rooftops or carports at hospitals, depending on where they can capture the most amount of sunlight.

Jose Lozano, Hackensack Meridian’s chief growth officer, said, “It’s not all going to happen at the same time since some of the projects will require some local municipality approval. But we hope we’ll get started by the end of this year.”

Long-term goals

Hackensack Meridian is already considered a leader in sustainability, an effort that began more than a decade ago. As part of that initiative, it has implemented numerous strategies to cut emissions, conserve energy, invest in renewable sources and offer healthy, local, sustainable food.

It is also among 870-plus organizations that signed the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services health sector climate pledge promising to achieve net zero emissions by 2050.

“We’ve committed to cutting carbon emissions in half by the year 2030 and becoming carbon natural in 2050,” Garrett said. “With this Bernhardt project coming online this year, we’re right on track with that.”

In pursuit of that mission, Hackensack Meridian has taken several steps: investing $116 million in energy efficient infrastructure upgrades; achieving PEER Gold certification for Hackensack University Medical Center’s central utility plant; and reprocessing medical devices to save $1.71 million and divert 40,000 pounds of waste from landfills.

Hackensack Meridian’s achievements also involve purchasing, with 99% of furnishings free of harmful chemicals and 96.7% of cleaning products third-party eco-logo certified. In 2022, 100% of electronics purchased were EPEAT certified, according to HMH.

The network also offers sustainable dining with locally sourced, plant-forward menus that promote a healthy lifestyle and planet. That enabled it to decrease total food-related emissions by over 40%. The achievement made Hackensack Meridian a leader in terms of overall reductions.

By reducing meat consumption by more than 21% at hospitals throughout the system, Hackensack Meridian became the largest health system in the country to join the Cool Food Pledge, a World Resources Institute-sponsored initiative to encourage more plant-based food consumption as a way to reduce climate impact.

Setting an example

Garrett, who was named in August 2023 as chair of the World Economic Forum’s Health and Healthcare Governor’s Community, said, “As the largest health care system in New Jersey and one of the largest in the nation, I think it’s important that we set an example.

“I’ll carry that a little further in my role at the World Economic Forum in Davos,” he said. “I’m leader of the health care community over these next two years and we’re making this a major priority as well. It’s really important to impress this message on health ministers from around the world and also other health care providers.”

Since the health care industry accounts for roughly 8.5% of U.S. greenhouse gas emissions – more than the aviation industry – part of its commitment to keeping people healthy must include recognizing and reducing that footprint, Garrett believes.

“It’s important for the industry to focus on reducing carbon emissions for two reasons. Number one – climate change is already having an impact on health and health care. We have a mission to keep our communities healthy and climate change is certainly impacting the overall health of our communities that we serve. We’re already seeing it with weather-related events, which can cause adverse health conditions, like increases in asthma rates … There’s a lot of examples of it and it’s already causing an impact,” he said.

“The health care industry is really one of the culprits in climate change,” he said. “And when I speak of the industry, I don’t just mean hospitals. That includes health systems, pharmaceutical companies, physicians’ offices, other providers.”

Garrett speculates hesitancy in the industry about embracing sustainability may be tied to pandemic-related recovery. “In fairness to some hospital and health systems, COVID hit all of us hard. Some are still digging out financially from the pandemic,” he said. “But once you peel back what’s needed in terms investment, the savings could be very, very significant in terms of energy costs. And that could actually help budgets.

“I think once the dust really clears from that [COVID] and hospitals and health systems look at the full analysis, they will see that it’s a significant savings,” he said.

“With our Bernhard project, we’re going to be saving 25% in electricity costs each year, in addition to a 10% reduction in carbon emissions over the course of a 30-year-agreement,” Garrett said. “So, there’s savings to be had here. I think once these hospitals and health systems see and do their full analysis, they’ll see it’s a good investment to make.”

Lozano said, “In the past, there’s been tax credits, opportunities and programs for private companies, but the Inflation Reduction Act, for the first time, allowed not-for-profit organizations to take hold of those similar tax credits.”

“I do think there are a lot of health care organizations in the country that don’t even know that they are eligible for some of these programs. It was just lucky that we came about the program and really took sort of advantage,” Lozano said.

$134M in infrastructure improvements

Over the life of the agreement with Bernhard, Garrett said there will be $134 million worth of infrastructure improvements. About $84 million of that will be covered by Bernhard and $50 million will be funded via investment tax credits through the Inflation Reduction Act.

“Because of that focus we’ve had with sustainability over many years, we saw this program as a benefit,” said Garrett, who described it as “significant” funding that “can really propel the health system on this journey.”

The agreement with Bernhard comes a month after four hospitals within Hackensack Meridian’s network became the first in the U.S. to earn Sustainable Healthcare Certification from The Joint Commission.

The new certification is designed to provide a framework to help health care organizations begin, continue or expand their decarbonization efforts. To achieve the designation, hospitals must set priorities and governance for sustainability initiatives, including creating baselines to measure three sources of emissions and developing an action plan to reduce them.

The system’s hospitals that received SHC are Hackensack University Medical Center in Hackensack, Bayshore Medical Center in Holmdel, Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune and Ocean University Medical Center in Brick.

Garrett said Hackensack Meridian is “incredibly proud” to be the first network to earn SHC.