Combermere, Ontario: February 21, 2025 – Canada’s premier green health care resource network, the Canadian Coalition for Green Health Care, has launched a new initiative in its sustainable health arsenal to help Canada’s hospitals (and clinics) deal with the negative impacts of nitrous oxide (N2O) storage and use. Enter Nix the Nitrous, part of a three-year project, to persuade Canadian health delivery facilities with centralized N2O systems to abandon the technology in favour of efficient portable point-of-use solutions, and encourage Canadian clinicians to continue to reduce their use of N2O.
The case for abandonment is compelling as it not only aligns with sound environmental conservation efforts, but it supports health and safety standards in the workplace while delivering significant economic benefits.
N2O, commonly known as laughing gas, is an anaesthetic that has been used for almost 200 years to provide sedation and pain control. In modern anesthetic practice, N20 is used rarely as newer drugs and anesthetic techniques, with lower side effect profiles, have been developed. In fact, N20 is no longer recommended as an anesthetic by the Canadian Anesthesia Society because it offers no benefits to patients, is toxic to the environment and the centralized systems supplying anesthetic machines are expensive to maintain. Small amounts of N20 are administered in some hospitals for labour, paediatric and procedural pain relief, but better alternatives exist for most of these use cases.
Traditionally, hospitals have relied on centralized systems to distribute large quantities of nitrous oxide, where an intricate network of pipes, hoses, fittings, and pressurized tanks feed the gas throughout the facility. Reductions in the clinical use of N2O have made central nitrous delivery obsolete. In addition, central nitrous delivery leads to significant economic, environmental, and safety concerns that cannot be ignored.
Centralized N2O distribution systems are expensive to install, expensive to maintain, and fraught with delivery inefficiencies, primarily due to leakage. Fittings, valves, and wall plugs, integral to these systems, often slowly fail, leading to leaks throughout the system. Audits within Canadian hospital settings have revealed a startling fact: typically more than 95% of N2O purchased does not reach its intended clinical use due to these leaks.
The implications of these leaks extend far beyond wasted resources. N2O is a potent greenhouse gas with a global warming potential 273 times greater than carbon dioxide, contributing significantly to climate disruption. Moreover, the potential for N2O to leak into areas occupied by staff and patients poses direct health risks, making this an issue of both environmental and workplace safety.
Made possible with investment from the Government of Canada’s Low Carbon Economy Implementation Readiness Fund, the Coalition’s Nix the Nitrous team will provide hospital organisations with a roadmap to approximate the costs and savings related to decommissioning your existing centralized system, building an effective business case for moving forward, and safely making the final steps.
Join the movement by contacting the Project Manager, Autumn Sypus (autumn@greenhealthcare.ca) and learn how you can achieve multiple benefits for your organisation including decreasing your greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate change, ensure a safer working and healing environment by reducing staff and patient exposure, and enjoy considerable financial savings. This includes: reduced N2O costs; lower maintenance costs associated with leak testing and repairs; and for those planning, upgrading or constructing new facilities, avoiding the entire cost associated with the design and installation of a centralized N2O system.
As the Coalition works towards building a stronger, healthier and more sustainable health service delivery system, the Nix the Nitrous team encourages health care facilities at all stages, whether existing, in planning, or under construction, to consider the adoption of point-of-use N2O delivery methods and safely decommissioning your existing N2O delivery system.
Watch Rethinking Nitrous Oxide in Health Care: An Environmental and Economic Initiative, our introductory webinar on YouTube® at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-Cplq1HAdU and visit https://greenhealthcare.ca/nix-the-nitrous/ for project updates and to access new resources as they are released.
The Canadian Coalition for Green Healthcare is Canada’s premier green health care resource network, leading the transition to environmentally sustainable and climate-resilient practices as a national voice and catalyst for change. www.greenhealthcare.ca
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Contact: Kent Waddington, Communications Director, Canadian Coalition for Green Health Care at Kent@kentwaddington.com
