text: Health Care. As table 2 shows, about half (almost 47 percent) of the indirect energy consumed within health care involves the preparation of pharmaceuticals. Physician services come next, accounting for roughly 18.5 percent of health care's indirect energy use. Some of this energy consumption is undoubtedly well spent, but some of it may result from bad incentive structures that encourage doctors to use unnecessary and energy-intensive tests and machinery. In addition, prescription drug waste is extensive. As Representative Tim Murphy (R-Ohio) observes on his web site, unused medications may account for as much as $1 billion in wasted drug costs among elderly Americans each year, and waste at long-term care facilities is quite high. The value of unused drugs in long-term care facilities may be as high as $378 million, with more than 90 percent of the wasted medication due to change in prescription, death, or transfer of the resident.