[Greenbuilding] [BULK] green built hospitals?

[Lawrence Lile]

Here is why you don't hear much about Green hospitals:  Hospitals use
more energy and resources than any other type of building I can think
of.  I do a lot of work in hospitals.  Believe me, they are concerned
about energy, but they have to be ready 24 hours a day, they have to
have emergency generators and a complete backup of everything, they have
to have infection control, they have to have 100% outside air
ventilation in critical areas, in other words there isn't much room for
efficiency. 

There is a movement to create  LEED-H standard for hospitals, it's in
draft the last time I looked.  However, a hospital is always going to
use 10X the resources that, say, a school might use.  

A typical project we do in a hospital might be to replace a central
plant chiller.  We'll take out a unit that is .8KW/Ton and replace it
with one that is maybe .55 KW/Ton, and save 'em a half a million dollars
a year in electric utility costs.  

There are always small things that could be done.  Many hospitals are
putting in art and murals and using color.  Many are trying to use
natural light when available.  But it is a huge uphill battle - a
zero-energy, super-Green hospital is a long way off! 

Lawrence Lile, PE, LEED AP
Project Solutions Engineering

-----Original Message-----
From: greenbuilding-bounces at listserv.repp.org
[mailto:greenbuilding-bounces at listserv.repp.org] On Behalf Of Bobbi
Chukran
Sent: Wednesday, July 18, 2007 4:28 AM
To: greenbuilding at listserv.repp.org
Subject: [BULK] [Greenbuilding] green built hospitals?
Importance: Low

Hi all,

I just got an inquiry about a commission from an art consultant who 
handles work placed in healthcare facilities, and after doing some 
Googling, I realized that there's a lot online about the role that 
art plays in health and healing.

It occurs to me that I've never seen anything about *green-built 
hospitals*....it seems like such a no-brainer to mix the two.  Are 
there such projects around the US (world?), and if so, who would be 
the person who would hire consultants, etc. for the interior design 
of the facility?  Does the architect do that?

Any information would be appreciated.

bobbi c.
http://www.bobbichukran.com

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