Eskenazi Health will be at the leading edge of energy efficiency and environmental design. The goal for this entire campus is to meet LEED Silver certification from the USGBC, a feat that would make Eskenazi Health the first in Indiana and one of 10 newly built hospitals in America to reach Silver or higher.

What is LEED?

LEED is a point system designed by the United States Green Building Council to provide third-party verification of a project’s environmentally responsible design.

Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design is an internationally recognized green building certification providing third-party verification that a building was designed and constructed using strategies aimed at improving performance in energy savings, water efficiency, carbon emissions reduction, improved indoor air quality and stewardship of resources and sensitivity to their impacts.

LEED uses a point system to provide building owners and operators a concise framework for identifying and implementing practical and measureable green building design, construction, operations and maintenance solutions.

LEED Fact Sheet

Eskenazi Health’s LEED plan highlights

Construction Activity

• Meeting local and national standards for pollution prevention in erosion and sedimentation control.
• Recycling construction waste, utilizing recycled content building materials and using locally manufactured, processed and extracted materials.

Sustainable Site

• Reusing an old urban site to avoid disturbance of undeveloped land, farmland or wetlands.
• Located near residences, basic services and public transportation, minimizing related travel emissions.
• Bike racks, showers for employees and designated parking for alternative fuel vehicles and high-occupancy carpool and vanpool vehicles.

Environmental Design

• At least 14 percent energy savings through optimization plan
• Utilization of green roof design, incorporating plant life, and white roof, increasing solar reflectance index to lessen the cooling impact on the buildings and to minimize the buildings’ impact on the localized temperature.
• Potable water usage savings through self-sustaining rain water irrigation system for landscaping use of native plant species, and reduced water usage through efficient plumbing fixtures.

Efficient Operation

• Utilize outside air delivery and ventilation, including stringent CO2 monitoring, to enhance patient aid and comfort, improve indoor air quality and better manage spread of infection.
• Provide areas for recycling paper, corrugated cardboard, glass, plastic and metals.
• Exceed national standard for outdoor air flow for mechanical systems.
• No smoking policy for the entire Eskenazi Health campus.

Mayor Gregory Ballard joined Wishard officials to announce the hospital’s plans for LEED Certification as part of Earth Day events in 2010.

All design elements are listed as planned and are subject to change at any time due to construction and other factors. Certification is subject to USGBC audit upon completion.