1st Hospital In Nation To Operate On 100 Percent Green Power Providence Health System's new medical center in Newberg was the first hospital building in the United States to acquire enough renewable electric power to meet all its needs. Providence has agreed to purchase 183,294 kilowatt hours per month of renewable power from Portland General Electric through PGE's Clean Wind program. By doing this, Providence will offset the need for conventional power generation that would have sent more than three million pounds of carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere each year. The CO2 emissions avoided will be equivalent to taking 273 cars off the road.
LEEDing the way for “green” hospitals Providence Newberg’s medical center is breaking new ground in many ways. The project is the first hospital in the nation to earn GOLD LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification through the U.S. Green Building Council, which is extremely rare for hospitals. Providence Newberg is demonstrating that a medical center can incorporate the most advanced technology and forward-thinking patient care design along with energy-efficient, environmentally sound construction.
A Healthy Investment In early 2002 Providence Health System decided a new hospital was necessary in Newberg to continue to meet community need. Since the System hadn’t built a facility from the ground up for 28 years, they approached the design, architecture and equipment selection as a fresh opportunity. One of the considerations was to save money by saving on energy costs for the duration of the life of the building.
Providence Health System pulled in its energy manager, Richard Beam. In researching everything from walls to roofing to glazing, Richard discovered the U.S. Green Building Council’s national LEED accreditation program, which provided a framework for construction that would significantly reduce the total cost of ownership through energy savings. This “green building” process has other environmental benefits as well.
“It’s the smart way to build,” Richard explains. “We use our natural resources responsibly, we reduce our energy costs and as a result, we can put more money back into patient care and the community. On top of it all, we create a healthy building for patients and staff.”
Laying the foundation Richard pulled together the two groups that would be essential in building Providence Newberg Medical Center: the Design and Construction team, and Providence’s Yamhill Service Area leadership. He hosted an eco-charrette* — an intense brainstorming forum — with a collaborative objective. This forum encouraged all members of the design and management teams to propose green strategies and ideas that would create an exemplary, high-performance building.
One of the big questions to come out of the eco-charrette was “Can we afford this?” Richard and his team brought a valuable perspective to the table. Over the years, they have been called in to spend loads of time (and money) replacing old equipment with newer, more energy-efficient products at Providence facilities. While much of the original equipment was cheaper up front, over time it was not the best investment and it also didn’t help Providence fulfill its desire of being environmentally sound and safe. With this opportunity to build from the ground up, Richard was confident that establishing “green” goals from the start would be a financially sound strategy in the short and long term.
Going for the Green Richard didn’t stop with construction research. He went to work unearthing additional financial support for the project as well. Providence Newberg secured funding in the form of grants, incentives, and tax credits. Energy Trust of Oregon approved a grant for $199,858, through its new Building Efficiency Program, while PGE’s Earth Advan-tage Program has approved a $156,000 proposal to fund the upgrade of our generators in return fordistributed generation capacity. A $15,000 grant for building commissioning from the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance will qualify the hospital for a $141,000 Business Energy Tax Credit through the Oregon Office of Energy.
The environmental approach to construction at Providence Newberg results in benefits all around. Not only will we save energy costs up front, but we will also be assured that significant savings will continue for the life of the building. That’s a healthy investment.
To learn more about Providence Newberg Medical Center, please call 503-537-1673, or send us an email.
*The French word "charrette" means "cart." It also describes the final, intense effort by art and architecture students to meet a project deadline. The term originates from the École des Beaux Arts in Paris during the 19th century when proctors circulated a cart, or "charrette," to collect final drawings while students frantically put finishing touches on their work.
1st Hospital In Nation To Operate On 100 Percent Green Power