Defibrillation devices, which can help save heart attack victims or those suffering from arrhythmia, can get the job done using 1,000 times less electricity, according to an American Institute of Physics writeup for Phys.org.
Defibrillators deliver an electric shock to the heart to help restore a normal rhythm or heartbeat. According to a new paper published in the journal Chaos, these medical devices need far less energy than what is traditionally used. To examine the effects of the applied voltage field in various fibrillation-defibrillation scenarios, the study's authors relied on an electrophysiological computer model of the heart's electrical circuits.
"The results were not at all what we expected," author Roman Grigoriev said, per Phys.org. "We learned the mechanism for ultra-low-energy defibrillation is not related to synchronization of the excitation waves like we thought but is instead related to whether the waves manage to propagate across regions of the tissue which have not had the time to fully recover from a previous excitation."
Energy-saving techniques like this within the medical field have important implications. For one, they can help save money. For instance, one study concluded that if all U.S. medical facilities were to reduce energy use and cut certain waste, they could save about $15 billion over 10 years.
Plus, doubling down on reducing energy waste in hospitals and other healthcare facilities will become increasingly important as we face rising energy demands due to factors such as the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence, which relies on power-hungry data centers.
Currently, a whopping 82% of our country's power needs are met with dirty fuels like coal, natural gas, and oil, according to the University of Michigan's Center for Sustainable Systems. These three energy sources are the main culprits driving the overheating of our planet, a crisis that endangers human health in various ways, such as by increasing the risk of heart attack due to extreme heat and particle pollution.
While cutting energy use is important in the medical field and beyond, transitioning to renewable energies like solar, wind, and geothermal is another great way to reduce pollution and help us in the fight against the potentially catastrophic effects of rising global temperatures.
The Valley Children's Hospital in Madera, California, is already on board, with plans to replace its diesel generators with clean energy sources. Meanwhile, rural Virginia is adding over a million new jobs by turning away from coal and investing in solar energy instead.
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