The healthcare industry is joining a nationwide trend in designing environmentally friendly green buildings — and for good reason. Studies show that environmentally friendly healthcare facilities are good for patients, staff, and the community as they provide better healing environments, aid in patient recovery, and reduce air pollution which improves public health. Energy efficiency elements of green design provide a significant return on investment. The financial savings that result from energy efficiency can fund other green design elements and continue to provide savings well after the payback period and over the life of the building. According to the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, while existing buildings can achieve energy savings of up to 30% through operations and maintenance and equipment upgrades, new buildings can cost-effectively achieve savings of 50% or more through efficient design.

As knowledge of cost savings from efficient hospitals becomes more widespread, increasing numbers of design teams have begun to aggressively integrate energy efficiency into the design of their healthcare facilities. But of those that are incorporating energy efficiency measures, few are using energy modeling and benchmarking tools to assess whether their design will result in an energy-efficient facility. These design teams are missing an opportunity to maximize the energy savings potential of their new buildings.

In response to growing concerns of climate change, the American Institute of Architect's Board of Directors, along with the Conference of Mayors, adopted the 2030° Challenge calling for new buildings and major renovations to be designed to consume 50% less energy than the national average by 2010. With the growing demand for new healthcare facilities and the current construction boom, this presentation discusses how the healthcare industry might incorporate the 2030° Challenge performance targets into design practices to build energy-efficient healthcare facilities.

Not only should energy efficiency be integrated into design, but anticipated energy savings must be verified. This presentation will demonstrate how free tools such as EPA's Target Finder and energy modeling software (eQuest) can be used together to assess the energy performance of design plans, enabling design teams to make informed decisions leading to more efficient designs. Attendees will learn how to use these tools throughout the design process to set energy performance targets, identify opportunities to make adjustments to the design at key stages based on modeling results, and determine if targets have been reached. Finally, this presentation will show participants ways to use the modeling results to receive national recognition from the EPA and other organizations.