LEED for Healthcare: Editorial on Cleantech Group's site
Monday, May 4, 2009 at 4:44PM A posting that I published originally on GreenSpacesRx on April 23 called "LEED for Healthcare: Worth It?" has been edited and is now published on the Cleantech Group's website. The essence of the posting has stayed the same, however, the lead in may be more definitive than what I meant in the editorial. To summarize, I think there are some issues with the LEED certification process because it is a predictive model and the lack of tracking and performance after the LEED certification is granted is a problem in the long run. There are other reasons for pursuing the LEED certification, such as using non-toxic materials, indoor quality, etc. These are not small considerations in the healthcare industry. Since LEED is becoming a de facto standard, however, the building performance issues should be discussed and addressed.
HealthySpacesRx Editor
Since publishing my original post in April, Healthcaredesignmagazine.com published a blog post from a health care architect and LEED professional describing a presentation at the ACHE in Chicago in March that reported on the post occupancy analysis of an acute care hospital. "The building not only failed to perform as the LEED required energy modeling predicted, but it actually performed worse than any of the other non-LEED certified buildings in the healthcare system."
HealthySpacesRx Editor
The US Green Building Council announced that all buildings seeking LEED certification will be required to provide energy and water usage data on a recurring basis as a precondition to certification. The new requirements will be part of LEED v.3, which all registered projects will be required to follow starting June 27. more>>
Reader Comments (1)
As Energy Efficienct Lighting Consultants, we have been specifying Spectrally Enhanced Lighting and "Full Spectrum" Lighting for our retrofit clients. Spectrally Enhanced Lighting is recommended by the Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP) for saving 20% more energy than other T8 lamping strategies. See the DOE/EERE/FEMP link. http://www1.eere.energy.gov/femp/new_technology/techdemo_comp5.html
Boulder Community Hospital began installing Low Wattage Sunwave "Full Spectrum" (Spectrally or Scotopically Enhanced) lamps in their newly LEED Certified Foothills Hospital and in other their other buildings more than 4 years ago. In addition to saving 14% more energy per lamp compared to the lamps that they had been using, they immediately noticed that it was easier to see to clean and easier to read fine print. These lamps are now used in the Sterile Storage areas, the OR’s, the ER’s, in the Mom and Well Baby Unit, in the Pharmacy’s, at the Nursing Stations and in other areas. A short 2 minute video on the low wattage Spectrally Enhanced lighting at Boulder Community Hospital can be found at http://www.sunwavelighting.net. All of this was done after the LEED certification process was completed.
American Environmental Products Offers both Sunwave and Super Eco T8 Plus products (listed on the CEE “Super T8” lamp list). The company is registered with the GSA and the Sunwave lamps, Desk Lamps, and Light Therapy Equipment are listed in the GSA schedule. The company is unique in that the 5550K 93 CRI Kodak Reference Daylight match “Sunwave” Rare Earth Phosphor Blend is available in Light Therapy Equipment, in CFL’s, in Desk Lamps, in Task Lights, and in both linear T8 and T5 lamp formats.
In additional to greening our local "Green" hospital, we have installed this technology in other LEED certified facitlies, after the fact. We have completed several local projects using Sunwave and other Spectrally Enhanced Lighting products. We have done two labs at NREL, CU's University Memorial Center (LEED), Boulder Community Hospital (including parts of the first LEED Certified Foothills Hospital on Arapahoe and other buildings) and NEON's (The National Ecological Observatory Network) new offices near Boulder's Airport). Other recent projects around Boudler include UNAVCO (the University Navstar Consortium), American Outdoor Products (24,000 feet for Backpackers Pantry Division), and Blue Mountain Arts (the 200,000 square foot Spine Road Warehouse and an additional 35,000 square feet of offices in Boulder.)
Compared to the rest of the country, Boulder County enjoys low energy prices and 300 plus days of mile high blue sky sunshine. If Spectrally Enhanced Lighting works here (as it does in California), it can work anywhere and it appears to be working here.
Sunwave's proprietary Rare Earth Phosphor blend produces a Skylight Daylight Color Match 5550K (Kodak Reference Daylight) with a 93 CRI. The Color Rendition Index for Sunshine is 100. It has a higher S/P ratio (more visually effective lumens per watt and a lower wattage lamp design which offers 10% more savings potential than demonstrated by FEMP for the 5000K 82 CRI (available from big three manufacturers) as tested in their studies. These lamps feature a "Full Spectrum" Phosphor blend used in Light Therapy equipment to treat Seasonal Affective Disorder, and a glass tube design with a slightly larger diameter than a standard 1 inch T8.5 (Tubular 8.5-8ths of an inch in diameter) glass tube (which results in lower wattage) and extra heavy duty, 37-watt, extra-long-life cathodes, More light, less energy, lasts longer, lower lifecycle costs.
Saving energy with Spectrally Enhanced Lighting is a big deal. It has triple bottom line implications. It can save energy costs now and for years into the future. It helps people see better and feel better at work, and it can save more Carbon starting now, not 10 years from now. Saving energy in lighting is low hanging fruit even here in Boulder.
It is largely off of the LEED radar. We are currently consulting with the LEED certified Alliance Center in Downtown Denver about saving an additional 33% off the Lighting that they installed just a few years ago as part of their LEED certifiied renovation. They saved 40% which is good, but by changing to Sunwave Lamps and delamping where they are over lit, they will save another 33% and they will end up with better lighting too. Julie Moyle, Boulder Community Hospital's Surgery Department Manager claims that when they leave the (Sunwave) portions of the hospital and return to the hallways, it is like getting instant cataracts. They have noticed other health and wellness effects as well.
It would be nice if these LEED guys would get it right the first time... (I wonder when the plaques will be mounted with removable screws). One should remove the plaques and get a refund for the LEED fees if buildings don't actually perform as predicted. Saving just 40% is good and it is a step in the right direction, but saving 60% with little incremental cost and better visual ergonomics is even better. I note that NREL's newest LEED Platimum Certified Laboratory did not included spectrally enhanced lighting and therefore left a lot of potential energy savings (20%) for lighting on the table. Perhaps it's because of the "not invented here" syndrome. The technology was discovered and characterized by the Lawrence Berkeley labs, is not patented, is high on the FEMP energing technologies list, but remains left out of many projects even at NREL.
Perhaps this too can be explained because it has the potential to disrupt sales for existing less efficient lighting products and rare earth phosphors cost more. For the life of me I don't understand why we spend all the effort to put daylighting into our buildings and then supplement it with yellow (3500K) or brown (4100K) lights on cloudy days. I'll know we're making progress when others figure this out and the Spectrally Enhanced Lighting technology becomes more main stream.
To Carbon Free Abundance and a Brighter Greener Tomorrow.
Steve Heising, CLEP
Certified Lighting Efficiency Professional by the Association of Energy Engineers
Member Xcel Energy Lighting Efficiency Advisory Board
Member Boulder Green Building Guild.