For years, environmentalists have been pushing green initiatives to help save the planet. Enthusiasts supported the cause by conserving water, recycling and composting, but many others were hesitant to embrace the movement. Now that consumers and businesses realize that green products and designs not only help the environment, but also save money, everyone is jumping on the green bandwagon.

One way long-term care facilities are going green is through LEED-certified construction and renovation projects. The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System was developed by the U.S. Green Building Council to provide standards for environmentally sustainable construction.¹The third-party certification program is the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings.

Projects earn LEED accreditation points for ­satisfying specific green building criteria in the following categories: sustainable site development, water efficiency, energy efficiency, materials and resources, indoor environmental quality and innovation in design. See the box for specific examples in each category.

Here's a look at two long-term care communities that are pioneering the green movement through environmentally-friendly building projects.

PENNSWOOD VILLAGE

Pennswood Village in Newtown, Pa., is a Quaker-directed CCRC that has always taken an environmentally friendly approach to living, says Nancy Spears, executive director. They currently have a LEED-registered building addition under construction that showcases a number of green design elements.

For example, resident rooms feature lighting controlled by sensors that automatically adjust to natural light, low-flow water faucets and low-VOC (volatile organic compounds) carpeting and paint.

In the country kitchen, the tiles are locally sourced from a manufacturing facility less than 25 miles away and the cabinets are made from Forest Stewardship Council-certified wood. 

Spears says the green community is a result of a vision shared by the administration and residents alike. "Part of the Quaker philosophy is to be good stewards of the environment," she notes. They had been doing things like recycling for a while, but the residents came to her wanting to do more, and they were willing to share in the commitment. They formed an environmental committee to discuss green initiatives. Pennswood decided to eliminate Styrofoam from the campus and converted to environmentally responsible cleaning products.

Outside, residents can explore trails that wind through the community, along a natural creek bed, over stone bridges and through meadows, keeping open spaces preserved. Pennswood's storm water management system was a public-private partnership with the township, and it has received several awards for its positive impact on the surrounding community, including recognition from the American Society of Landscape Architects.

Pennswood also recently installed a walking path that uses rubber from recycled tires. Each square saves five tires from the landfill and the residents enjoy a more comfortable, padded walkway, explains Pete McBrien, director of facilities.

This year, the residents are going to plant vegetables in the community garden to use in meals. This collaboration between the residents and staff demonstrates Pennswood's commitment to sustainable principles of environmentally friendly living.

LANDIS HOMES

Pennswood is not alone in its green endeavors. A few years back, the marketing staff at Landis Homes in Lititz, Pa., began noticing that prospective residents were very concerned about the environment. These prospects spoke of changing the lighting in their homes to be more energy-efficient. It wasn't just lip service, either. Many of them already owned hybrid cars, says Linford Good, the facility's vice president of planning and marketing.

This concern ultimately became the driving force for the community's planned LEED-registered expansion that includes 142 homes, 72 hybrid homes and 70 cottage homes.

"We wanted to be proactive and keep up with our customers and we were looking for some way to have something that was a little different from the retirement community down the road," Good says.

The staff at Landis Homes started small by moving from incandescent bulbs to compact fluorescent bulbs to LED bulbs in the light fixtures, Good explains. Upon noticing these changes, residents started asking what kind of cost savings the community was realizing. This is where management had a hard time answering.

"Sometimes it's a little tough because it's not that easy to demonstrate, unless you've got some really good measuring systems in place and we don't always. The place is always growing so it's not always easy to say we saved 'x' amount of dollars doing that. LEED will be a way that we can demonstrate that we earned these points by the designation," Good says.

The project includes many changes in the basic design of residential units. Chief among them is the new geothermal heat and air conditioning source, which is basically a heat pump that operates via water rather than air. The geothermal heating system circulates water through underground wells that become the source for heating and cooling, Good says.

"It uses the earth's natural stable temperature to either draw cooling out in the summer or heat in the winter," he explains. "Many regular residential heat pumps use air to pull heat. This is more efficient because the earth stays at a constant temperature and doesn't fluctuate the way air temperature does."

Other measures include capturing rainwater and storing it for use in gardening, irrigation and car washing, he adds. "Over half of the rainwater will infiltrate back in site through rain gardens rather than having it run off or go into detention basins," Good says. The use of pervious-rather than hard­­-surfaces on some of the walkways and parking lots allows water to penetrate rather than run off, he says.

Energy-efficient lighting and plumbing fixtures help round out Landis' project plan.

THE BEST OF BOTH WORLDS

While saving energy is an admirable cause in itself, facilities also benefit from the cost savings associated with green measures. McBrien says that doing everything according to LEED standards doesn't have to be more expensive than traditional construction. It just takes a little research to find the best materials and the right project team.

Spears says that while the cost of installing geothermal heating was expensive, the investment pays for itself in only five years. The facility also saves 40,000 gallons of water a year for each waterless toilet they've installed.

Landis Homes hopes to experience the same kind of savings. "Geothermal heating is initially more costly than traditional heating, but over the life of the building, we see it at least paying for itself, if not paying back," says Good.

Even with other costs quickly mounting on such a project, the management at Landis Homes was in favor of going green right from the start. In some of their older buildings that were designed to reduce initial construction costs, they've already had to replace things like windows and exteriors, Good relates.

Good says the new green construction measures will also payoff in terms of beating out the competition.

"There's a broad appeal in the general public for organizations that are taking a responsible approach. It's really taking a higher road than you'd have to and folks are attracted to that and are willing, assuming they can afford it, to pay a little more to get that," he says.

Reference

1. U.S. Green Building Council. Frequently Asked Questions About the LEED® Green Building Certification System. Retrieved from: www.usgbc.org/ShowFile.aspx?DocumentID=3330 on Apr. 7, 2009.

Liz Rosto is senior associate editor and Maureen M. McAndrews is managing editor of ADVANCE.

LEED Projects At Pennswood Village

sustainable sites

• storm water management system

• preservation of open space

water efficiency

• barrels that capture rainwater to reuse to water flower beds

• low-flow faucets

• waterless urinals

energy efficiency

• Energy Star appliances

• compact fluorescent bulbs and light-emitting diodes (LED)

• geothermal heating system

materials and resources

• recycling of construction materials

• locally manufactured tile

• rubber sidewalks made from recycled tires

indoor environmental quality

• formaldehyde-free cabinetry made from FSC-certified wood

• low-VOC materials, such as paint and carpeting

• green cleaning products

innovation

• menus that include seasonal and locally grown food sources

Energy-Efficient Design

Several strategies can improve building and energy performance while accommodating senior-living design issues.

by C. Bruce Christman, Jr., AIA, LEED AP

Buildings are one of the heaviest consumers of natural resources and account for a significant portion of the greenhouse gas emissions that affect climate change. That's why the U.S. Green Building Council and The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers have joined forces to produce a national green building standard.

With adoption into building codes scheduled for sometime in late 2009, ASHRAE Standard 189 will serve as the new benchmark for building performance for the industry.

In the meantime, the following measures offer cost-effective solutions to increase building efficiency while recognizing special considerations to accommodate the physiological effects of aging.

Energy Audits

Energy auditing is particularly helpful for building owners who wish to improve existing structures. Sealing the thermal envelope to eliminate drafts and building leakage is critical to performance, both for energy savings and quality of life for senior residents who are more susceptible to temperature changes.

Energy auditing identifies weak spots in an existing building's thermal envelope, primarily through blow door testing and thermal imaging. During the blow door test, a fan is temporarily installed and sealed into the exterior doorway. The fan blows air into or out of the building, creating a pressure differential, thus forcing air through all holes and penetrations in the building envelope. This process pinpoints the location of any air leakage in the thermal envelope, determining air-tightness. A blow door test can also test the building for compliance with current energy-efficient standards.

Thermal imaging non-invasively helps determine what is occurring within the walls. In many cases, insulation sags if not properly installed and within several years, portions of the wall are no longer thermally protected. This technique can also help identify insufficient insulation or improperly sealed components (i.e. around windows and doors).

Energy MODELING

With energy modeling, a building is constructed virtually and then performance is simulated before a shovel ever hits the dirt.

For an independent living project in Pittsburgh, our design team used the energy model to study the sun's path and how it would affect the westerly facing dining room during prime dining hours. We were able to make design adjustments to the porch overhang to minimize undesirable sun exposure, maximizing occupant comfort and reducing solar heat gain.

Insulation & Air Barriers

If you learn that you need more insulation, consider spray-in insulation which allows the stud cavity to be thoroughly sealed and serves a dual purpose as an insulator and an air barrier.

The bio-based and traditional urethane spray-in foam insulations offer relatively the same value in terms of thermal resistance-or R-value-and increased performance, but in most cases, the price point is greater than traditional fiberglass batt insulation. Use an energy model to help determine a return on your investment before committing to any technology.

Spray-on air barrier is one of the best ways to effectively seal the building envelope and prevent air infiltration. The spray-on air barrier is preferred over traditional building wraps because it seals the nooks and crannies created around openings.

Windows & Doors

Windows and doors are the weakest parts of the thermal envelope. If there is any one area where you should invest money, it is in windows. High performance windows greatly improve energy performance and typically have a two- to three-year payback.

When accompanied with proper solar orientation and daylighting strategies, the cost savings can have a ripple effect all the way down to the HVAC equipment and even reduce the size and cost of systems.

One window manufacturer offers a unit that can achieve a thermal rating ranging from R-5 to R-15 (compared to typical values ranging from 0.9 to 3.0).

Daylighting

Daylighting is using natural light to supplement or replace artificial lighting. The easiest and lowest cost option is solar orientation. Properly orientating the building can reduce heating and cooling loads, thus potentially reducing size of HVAC equipment.

When selecting finish materials and colors, remember that reflectance values, or the amount of light and heat that a color reflects, need to be coordinated with daylighting to maximize this strategy. For example, surfaces with a low reflectance value are generally very dark and can absorb heat. On the other hand, white has a reflectance value of nearly 100 and can help keep a building light and cool.

LED Technology

When it comes to artificial light, consider light emitting diodes (LED). LEDs emit little heat compared to incandescent lighting, which emits around 90 percent of its energy as heat. In addition, the typical life expectancy of LEDs is 55,000 to 100,000 hours, compared to 1,000 hours and 10,000 hours for incandescent and fluorescents respectively.

Energy-efficient, sustainable design is good design for all building types, including senior living. Green design results in sustainable buildings that conserve resources, consume less energy and improve and enhance quality of life for everyone.

C. Bruce Christman Jr. is a project architect with Reese, Lower, Patrick & Scott Ltd., Lancaster, Pa.

Coming Out of the Dark

by Bae-Won Koh, AIA, LEED AP

Numerous studies have proven that individuals who work or live in buildings that incorporate a daylighting plan are healthier and more productive; however, traditional building design has failed to leverage the benefits of natural light in senior living facilities.

Since environmental sensitivities are similar between children and the elderly, we can assume that senior living facilities using daylighting technologies would experience comparable benefits to students attending daylit schools. These students have been shown to have better concentration and overall health. However, despite the similarities between children and the elderly, there are also significant differences that must be considered to properly design daylit senior living facilities.

Visual acuity is one area where specialized experience is required to design appropriately for seniors. As people age, their ability to adapt to changing light levels is adversely affected. They are also more sensitive to glare. As a result, seniors need 1.5 to 3 times more light than younger people to perform simple daily activities, such as reading.¹

Seniors are also more sensitive to temperature fluctuations, and value their privacy far more than a child in a classroom environment. Improperly sized or placed windows can result in discomfort from overheating, and may also cause occupants to close blinds for privacy, eliminating any potential benefit from daylighting.

Improved visibility isn't the only benefit of a properly daylit building. Daylighting technologies are also beneficial to the mental and physical health of building occupants. Properly implemented daylighting technologies increase occupants' exposure to the sun, which in turn increases their vitamin D intake.

Vitamin D strengthens bones, teeth and tissue, and delays or prevents the onset of diseases such as osteoporosis, a particularly prevalent condition among older women.

In addition, exposure to natural light reduces depression, and in studies of elderly patients with sleep disorders, has been proven to increase sleep quality.²

It is critical that designers of daylit senior living facilities understand seniors' needs and sensitivities. In addition, they must perform appropriate daylighting simulations to properly place, orient and size windows. Without proper implementation, expected health benefits will not be achieved. In fact, the effect may be worse than if daylighting technologies had not been ­implemented at all.

References

1. The American National Standards Institute. Recommended Practice 28-2001, Lighting and the Visual Environment for Senior Living. Retrieved from www.iesna.org on Mar. 12, 2009.

2. Campbell S, Dawson D, Anderson M. Alleviation of sleep maintenance insomnia with timed exposure to bright light Journal of American Geriatric Society 1993;41:829-836.

Bae-Won Koh is an architect and sustainable design expert with HOLOS Studio. The firm has offices in Roanoke, Va. and Raleigh, N.C.