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By Nancy B. Solomon, AIA

Reduction of potable-water usage on the interior was more challenging, a common problem in health-care environments. Ennis explains that some alternative technologies, such as composting toilets, just do not seem appropriate for this building type. And in some situations, the staff can’t accept certain limitations. The postpartum nurses, for example, did not want an electric eye controlling a faucet where they were going to bathe newborns because they needed full control of water quantity and temperature. The design team did install waterless urinals and electric-eye faucets in the public-toilet rooms, but they couldn’t achieve LEED’s recommendation of at least a 20 percent reduction in overall interior potable-water use in comparison to levels stipulated by the 1992 Energy Policy Act. Ennis adds that state laws governing water rights in Colorado made that goal even more difficult to meet in this particular project.

 

Patrick H. Dollard Discovery Health Center, Harris, New York The building uses about 25 percent less energy than does a standard facility of this type, resulting in savings of approximately $18,000 to $20,000 per year Diagrams: Courtesy Guenther5 Architects

A highly efficient central utility plant was built not just for the new hospital and outpatient building but also for additional development planned for the campus. Variable speed pumps and variable frequency drives ensure that energy needed to operate the heating and cooling systems are a function of actual demand. Many other energy-efficient components—from roof overhangs to occupancy sensors—were also incorporated. And the building was fully commissioned by a third-party agent to assure that all systems were running as intended. Based on calculations by DOE-2 software, the project uses 27.6 percent less energy than a building compliant with ASHRAE 90.1-1999.