Greening Hospitals

When Boulder Community Hospital (Colorado) received its certification from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) for a LEED silver rating, the hospital not only joined a select group of LEED buildings, but it also became the first and only hospital so far to get a LEED certification.

There will likely be more hospitals but not without a struggle. There are 27 health care facilities registered with LEED waiting for word on whether they will receive certification. While that’s a good start, health care facilities comprise 30% of the new construction market. Given that, experts say nearly one-third of the 1800 projects registered with LEED should be hospitals. Because it’s so difficult to make those facilities green, however, less than two percent are.

Hospitals operate on a 24 hour basis and have volumes of special regulations to adhere to. Just moving air around takes more energy in a hospital than in most other facilities. Lighting levels are higher and elevators operate all day and night. This makes designing a green hospital more difficult.

“I’m not aware of any state that enforces energy code compliance on hospitals,” says Kim Shinn, an engineer with TLC Engineering. “I believe the underlying reason for the exemptions is that no one wants to compromise health care delivery for energy savings.”

“Because of this, there is little history among hospitals on how to achieve energy efficiency,” says Steven Guttman, principal with Guttman and Blaevoet Consulting Engineers.

Jeff Smitley, director of engineering and real estate for MetroHealth in Grand Rapids, MI. says it’s not all that difficult to shoot for LEED. “The green aspects of the hospital, which is under construction, will add 1.5% to the total project cost. “As LEED becomes more prevalent and experienced teams and products become more available, the costs are coming down. Our team has saved us money.”

MetroHealth’s green ambition is buttressed by what the regional health care company sees as the cost of doing business. “Green hospitals are the future,” he says. “They are better for patients, better for the community and better for the environment.”

New Guide Should Help

Working with the American Society for Healthcare Engineering (ASHE) and the USGBC, Gail Vittori, co-director of the Center for Maximum Potential Building Systems, convened a multi-stakeholder group over the past two years to create the Green Guide for Health Care. This voluntary self-certifying system is designed to help hospital owners and designers adapt LEED requirements to hospitals’ unique characteristics.

The first guideline, which is currently in a pilot phase, explicitly addresses the health issues associated with every LEED credit, from site selection to building materials. It offers credits, for example, for eliminating persistent bioaccumulative toxic chemicals, such as mercury and dioxin, from building materials. Other credits reward energy performance within the rigorous regulatory structure of healthcare facility operations. More than 1,600 people have already registered to download the pilot guide.

Major health care facilities, including Kaiser Permanente, the largest nonprofit health plan in the US, have agreed to pilot test the Green Guide over the next year. USGBC is using the guide as a prototype for its own application guideline for hospitals.

Joe Howard, director of facilities with Boulder Community Hospital, says he thinks an application guideline that amends the LEED process is all right if it’s needed to spur the market, but adds that hospitals can do it without the help as his 153,000 square foot hospital did.

“Despite the fact that you can only get energy use down so far, there are other areas where hospitals can maximize their design to get LEED credits,” he says.

For example, in 2002, Kaiser Permanente, the country’s largest non-profit health-care system, asked a longtime supplier to create a quality carpet without the polyvinyl chloride (PVC). Tandus Group Inc. will now cover the floors will PVC-free carpet in the 20 new hospitals Kaiser Permanente will build over the next 10 years. The carpet is made with a cushion backing from reclaimed polyvinyl butyral, a film from
used-car windshields and other safety glass.

Sponsors of the Green Guide include the New York State Energy and Research Authority, Merck Family Fund, and Hospitals for Healthy Environment (H2E), a joint project of American Hospital Association, American Nurses Association, Health Care Without Harm and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

http://www.gghc.org

This article is written in cooperation with the Green Building Report, published quarterly in Building Operating Management, a SustainableBusiness.com Content Partner.