Standard for High-Performance Green Health-Care Facilities Open for Public Review

Proposed ASHRAE/ASHE Standard 189.3P, Standard for the Design, Construction and Operation of Sustainable High-Performance Health Care Facilities, is open for public comment through Jan. 21.

“Health-care facilities are often the largest and most energy-intensive buildings in a community,” Standard 189.3 committee chair Michael Sheerin said. “In today’s competitive and regulated market, these facilities are challenged to provide capital for increasingly complex new buildings that meet sustainability objectives as they experience decreasing finances for life-sustaining services. In addition, health-care facilities are home to services that require energy use for patient safety.”

Standard 189.3 would apply to patient-care and related support areas within health-care facilities, including hospitals, nursing homes, and licensed outpatient facilities. It covers key topical areas of site sustainability, water-use efficiency, energy efficiency, indoor environmental quality, and impact on the atmosphere, materials, and resources. Additionally, it has a special section addressing emissions, effluents, and pollution.

Standard 189.3 builds on guidance in ANSI/ASHRAE/USGBC/IES Standard 189.1, Standard for the Design of High-Performance, Green Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings. Ventilation requirements for health-care facilities are addressed in ANSI/ASHRAE/ASHE Standard 170, Ventilation of Health Care Facilities.

For more information and to comment, click here.