Ultrasound machine power-down between scans: an energy and cost-saving measure in regional anesthesia

Anthropogenic climate change has been shown to have a global impact on human health and mortality. 1 Hospital imaging technology accounts for a significant proportion of a hospital’s power use, so energy-saving initiatives represent an opportunity to reduce both carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and financial costs.2 We performed a quality improvement study to evaluate the energy consumption of ultrasound machines, which is largely unknown to date. Our primary aim is to quantify the energy consumption saved by switching off the ultrasound machine between uses and overnight.