Green Building

Why Health Care Facilities Should be Green

Green building refers to good design and management practices in all phases of building construction and operation to promote a healthy environment and energy efficiency. In a health care organization’s pursuit of “first do no harm”, the built environment of care is often underestimated in its contribution to creating a healing environment. To improve the care and health of patients, whose immune systems may be compromised, health care facilities should be constructed and operated as healing and healthy environments. This extends beyond the medical care provided to the physical environment in which a patient is treated. Implementing green building strategies in health care facilities, such as using non-toxic building products during construction and operation of the facility and incorporating healing features into the design of the facility, is an intuitive step in creating an optimal patient care environment.

The following topics are covered in this section of the website:

• Paints and Coatings Learn how to choose paints and coatings that are not harmful to human health and the environment, what factors affect the chemical content of paints, how to achieve good indoor air quality during and after painting and coating activities, how to manage unused paints, what concerns exist for using reprocessed paints, and how to remove lead-based paints from facilities built before 1978.

• Sealants and Adhesives Find out how to choose environmentally preferable sealants and adhesives, how to specify or procure sealants and adhesives, how to achieve good indoor air quality during and after sealant and adhesive application activities, and how to ensure that proper preparations have been made prior to adhesive application.

• Ceiling Products Discover how to choose ceiling products that are not harmful to human health and the environment, what options exist for sustainable ceiling products, what product performance characteristics should be considered, how to achieve good indoor air quality during and after ceiling installation activities, and how to manage ceiling product demolition wastes.

• Mercury Elimination Learn what risks are posed by mercury-containing devices in a health care facility, what products may contain mercury, and how to specify non-mercury products through environmentally preferable purchasing.

• Mold Elimination Discover how mold is a threat to the indoor environment, how mold grows and causes adverse health effects, how to minimize the risk of mold formation, and how mold-resistant products can be used to help prevent mold from developing.

• Resilient Flooring Products Find out how to choose resilient flooring products that are not harmful to human health and the environment, what green flooring products can be integrated in health care facilities, how housekeeping and maintenance activities may affect flooring products, and what recommendations are provided for using resilient flooring products in health care facilities.

• Daylighting Learn how daylighting is beneficial in a health care facility, how it provides a healing environment, how it provides for energy savings, what materials and methods of construction for daylighting should be used, and what design recommendations are provided for using daylighting in a health care facility.

• Healing Gardens Discover how healing gardens are beneficial in health care facilities, what areas of evidence-based design are applicable to healing gardens, how the Green Guide for Health Care addresses healing gardens, and potential technologies and strategies for incorporating healing gardens in health care facilities.

Has your facility successfully implemented a green building program? Help us share your successes with other hospital peers. Contact Practice Greenhealth and we’ll help you write up a mini case study that you can share with your facility, community, and local press.

Key Resources:

Green Guide for Health Care (GGHC)

The Green Guide for Health Care (GGHC) is a best practices guide for healthy and sustainable building design, construction, and operations for the health care industry. The GGHC is the health care sector’s first quantifiable sustainable design toolkit integrating enhanced environmental and health principles and practices into the planning, design, construction, operations, and maintenance of their facilities. This Guide provides the health care sector with a voluntary, self-certifying metric toolkit of best practices that designers, owners, and operators can use to guide and evaluate their progress towards high performance healing environments.

Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)

U.S. Green Building Council The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System™ is the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction, and operation of high performance green buildings. LEED gives building owners and operators the tools they need to have an immediate and measurable impact on their buildings’ performance. LEED promotes a whole-building approach to sustainability by recognizing performance in five key areas of human and environmental health: sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection, and indoor environmental quality.

Healthy Building Network

The Healthy Building Network (HBN) is a national network of green building professionals, environmental and health activists, socially responsible investment advocates and others who are interested in promoting healthier building materials as a means of improving public health and preserving the global environment.The HBN site provides extensive information on green building topics specific to the health care sector.