Of all building types, hospitals consume the fourth-highest amount of energy, accounting for 10 percent to 15 percent of all commercial consumption at a cost of more than $3 billion per year. In recent years, architects and engineers have made significant progress in the design of high-performance health care projects.

The 140,000-square-foot Evansville State Hospital (pictured) is one of five psychiatric hospitals in Indiana.

• The building's exterior is composed of autoclaved aerated concrete (AAC), a product that is manufactured using fly ash residue from the burning of coal in power plants.
  
• Careful site development to avoid removing existing trees and vegetation.
  
• An engineered wetlands made up of a series of retention ponds on the site to control storm water and help with runoff problems in the adjacent residential neighborhood.
  
• A majority of rooms with views to the exterior and windows in all patient rooms with individual vents that patients can open and close.
  
• Additional natural daylighting provided through monitors at all of the nurse stations and an elongated skylight over the therapeutic "treatment mall."

The new Southeast Regional Treatment Center in Madison, Indiana, is a psychiatric hospital on a 650-acre campus overlooking the Ohio River.

The most innovative sustainable element of the Madison project involves recycling training. Recycling concepts have been incorporated into the patient therapy program in order to prepare patients for re-entry into mainstream society with a solid foundation in the principles of sustainability.

Cost savings for sustainable structures can be significant, and the challenge for owners and their design consultants is to think long term, especially in the health care field where tenants will likely occupy their facilities for 30 years or more. Most recognize the value of reducing operating costs, material usage and energy consumption. Many also see the potential advantages of a proactive approach to pending environmental regulations. With more sustainable health care facilities now in operation and with the continued evolution of evidence-based research, we should soon be able to quantify the value of any construction-related health benefits and the affect that sustainable environments have on staff attraction and retention.

Source: "Healthy Hospitals," Business Xpansion Journal, August 2006, by HOK's Paul E. Strohm, AIA, ACHA. Read the story.