Ventilator brand, not ventilation mode, determines electricity consumption and estimated carbon emissions: a bench study of nine intensive care ventilators
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: Background Health care generates 4%–5% of global greenhouse gas emissions, and the intensive care unit (ICU) is among its most energy-intensive environments, where energy rather than consumables dominates the carbon footprint. Ventilators run continuously, yet their electricity consumption has rarely been measured directly and never compared between brands. Methods Active power was measured with a single plug-in digital meter on three devices from each of three brands, in every available ventilation mode plus standby (90 measurements). The device was the independent experimental unit, giving an effective sample of nine ventilators. All used integral internal gas delivery, with a shared circuit and test balloon under standardised settings. Power was read every 60 s over 10 min per mode and averaged, then modelled by linear mixed effects (brand and harmonised mode as fixed effects, random intercept for device within brand, brand-specific residual variance). The brand effect was corroborated by parametric bootstrap, the mode effect by equivalence testing; a brand-by-mode interaction was fitted. Emissions were projected across several utilisation and grid scenarios. Results Estimated marginal means were 64.9 W (Brand A), 95.4 W (Brand B) and 56.3 W (Brand C). Brand exerted a strong effect (bootstrap p = 0.003 ); mode showed no detectable effect under the tested conditions (bootstrap p = 0.51 ), every mode was equivalent to the reference at a pre-defined ± 10 W margin, and no brand-by-mode interaction was detected ( p = 0.27 , limited power). Brand B exceeded Brand C by 39.1 W (95% CI 17.0–61.2): a projected 161 kg CO 2 -equivalent (95% CI 70–252) per ventilator annually at the Turkish grid factor under continuous operation, and 17 to 161 kg across scenarios. Standby reached 92.6% of active consumption in one brand; the active-minus-standby increment (4.8, 28.7 and 15.2 W) placed most of the between-brand difference in the idle baseline rather than in ventilation. Conclusions Brand, not ventilation mode, dominated electricity consumption among the devices tested. The findings support requiring measured power to be declared and evaluated as a standardised criterion in ventilator tenders; because all devices were approximately ten years old, they do not identify which currently marketed platform is preferable.
Source: Frontiers in Medicine
Authors: Semahattin Serkan Sezer, Nimet Şenoğlu
Institution: Bakırçay Üniversitesi
Language: English
Topic: Green IT and Sustainability
Subfield: Electrical and Electronic Engineering
Field: Engineering
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $3,801
OpenAlex ID: W7223094882