by Ann Withanee — April 15, 2011—The movement to make medical centers, hospitals and other healthcare facilities greener has taken a step forward with the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) formally launching its LEED standard for healthcare, according to a recent announcement.
The USGBC detailed its latest Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design standard at the annual CleanMed conference, which was held this year in Phoenix, Arizona.
“Research has shown that when we are treated and heal in a green healthcare facility—one that has a healthy indoor environmental quality and connects us to the outdoors—we heal faster, have shorter hospital stays and fewer return visits,” said USGBC Senior Vice President for LEED Scot Horst in a statement during the conference. “LEED for Healthcare is now six years in the making, addressing the healthcare industry’s unique green building needs.”
After two years of initial development, the USGBC introduced LEED-HC as a pilot in 2007. The organization worked with the Green Guide for Healthcare, a project of the Center for Maximum Potential Building Systems and Health Care Without Harm, to produce the standard.
More than 225 facilities have been certified to the standard and 1,176 more are in the pipeline as registered projects.
Formalization of the green building standard is the most recent development in the movement to make the healthcare industry—a huge consumer of electricity and generator of waste—more environmentally responsible. The work includes green building, renovation and renewable energy efforts, as well as initiatives that are aimed changing industry practices, such the drive to green operating rooms and Kaiser’s requirement that medical suppliers provide environmental information about their products.
For more information, see the USGBC Web site.
