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By Nancy B. Solomon, AIA

All categories have additional strategies: “Connection to the natural world,” for example, has been added under “Sustainable Sites” to acknowledge the important role nature plays in healing. “Process water efficiency” has been inserted under “Water Efficiency” to reflect the fact that hospitals rely on nonpotable water in much larger quantities than potable water within the building itself. “Electronic purchasing and take back” has been included under “Materials & Resources” to encourage the recycling of hardware rather than allow equipment to enter the waste stream. And the elimination of “asthma triggers, formaldehyde, phthalates, and natural rubber latex” has been added as one of the credits for “low-emitting materials” within “Environmental Quality,” highlighting the sensitivity health care has to people with compromised immune systems.

And some credits have been adjusted to more accurately reflect the realities of health care. For example, in “Energy & Atmosphere,” GGHC gives credit for supplying 1 percent, 2 percent, or 5 percent of the total energy consumed with renewable sources, rather than the 5 percent, 10 percent, or 20 percent minimums stipulated by LEED, because health-care buildings are so energy-intensive. The Green Guidelines has also expanded the detailed descriptions of the credits. Most striking is the insertion of “Health Issues,” which emphasizes the strong connections among ecological health, human health, and the built environment.

 

Image: Courtesy NBBJ

A voluntary, self-certifying system, GGHC could never serve the same role as does the LEED system of third-party certification. But its health-based approach adds a rich layer of information to the original LEED structure. “We wanted to be explicit that all of these strategies have health implications,” explains Vittori. “It’s a product that puts human health front and center.” In doing so, ASHE believes the health-care industry will be even more motivated to provide high-performance healing environments to complement its high-performance medicine. Perhaps equally important, such an emphasis on the health-based benefits of sustainable solutions promises to advance the entire sustainable-design movement in all sectors of construction.

Last spring, spurred on by the groundwork already laid by the draft version of the Green Guidelines, USGBC established a committee, also chaired by Vittori, to develop a LEED Application Guide for Healthcare. GGHC will be a reference document in this process. According to USGBC, this guide will be available by next summer.