The story of the Sambhavna Clinic, a non-profit holistic health clinic in Bhopal, India, built to treat those injured by the Union Carbide toxic gas release in 1984. enlarge video
The Issue
The construction and use of buildings consumes billions of tons of raw materials, generates significant waste, consumes a tremendous amount of energy and contributes toxic emissions to the air. Given this impact, there are significant opportunities to improve environmental quality and human health through the green planning, design and construction of health care facilities.
Health Care Without Harm is at the forefront of efforts to transform the way hospitals are designed, built and operated, through its involvement with the Green Guide for Health Care, a multi-year project of Health Care Without Harm and Center for Maximum Potential Building Systems. This free tool is the the first quantifiable sustainable design, construction and operations toolkit customized for the healthcare sector, and is being used by leading health care institutions around the world to build facilities that are healthier for people and the environment.
Latest News
- Global lessons in healthcare by Robin Guenther, FAIA, LEED AP and Walt Vernon, PE
- Green Guide for Health Care launches revised Operations Section (pdf)
- Sustainable Health Care Architecture, a resource from Robin Guenther and Gail Vittori, Co-Coordinators of the Green Guide for Health Care
Brigham and Women's Hospital
Key Resources
- Global Lessons in Healthcare by Robin Guenther, FAIA, LEED AP and Walt Vernon, PE
- Displacement Ventilation Research Phase II Summary Report (pdf)
Healthcare Ventilation Research Collaborative, 2010 - EPRI Report: Background, Trends, Issues, and Opportunities in Healthcare (pdf)
- EPRI Report: Energy Market Profiles: Hospital Buildings, Equipment, and Energy Use (requires login)
- GGHC Resources
Imagine (pdf brochure)GGHC website and FAQGreen Guide for Health Care (pdf, requires free registration)Report: A Prescriptive Path to Energy Efficiency for Hospitals full report (pdf) abstract (pdf) - Global Lessons in Healthcare - Article by Robin Guenther, FAIA, LEED AP and Walt Vernon, PE in the Healthcare Design Magazine
- Green Building: Costs and
Financial Benefits Full report (pdf)
10-page summary (pdf)
Slide presentation (ppt) - Healthcare Energy Project Guidebook (pdf)
designed to provide decision makers with knowledge about improving energy efficiency - Practice Greenhealth and the Healthcare Clean Energy Exchange
- Securing Proven Healthcare Energy Reduction for the Ecosystem: SPHERE by Premier (pdf)
- Top 10 Green Building Myths Busted (pdf)



