ASHRAE publishes design guide for healthcare facilities

Advanced Energy Design Guide designed to help health care facilities increase efficiency by 30% over 90.1-1999

Michael Ivanovich

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ASHRAE has announced that it has released the Advanced Energy Design Guide (AEDG) for Small Hospitals and Healthcare Facilities, making it the sixth in the AEDG series.

According to ASHRAE , the AEDG for Small Hospitals and Healthcare Facilities is designed to provide recommendations for achieving 30% energy savings over the minimum code requirements of ANSI/ASHRAE/IESNA Standard 90.1-1999. In an effort to promote building energy efficiency, ASHRAE and its partners have made these guides available for download in PDF format at no charge (the Healthcare Facilities guide is 6 Mb). Hardcopies can be purchased from the same Website for a nominal charge.

The Guide focuses on small healthcare facilities up to 90,000 sq ft, including acute care facilities, outpatient surgery centers, critical access hospitals, and inpatient community hospitals. Guidance is provided on the design of energy-intensive heating and cooling systems typical for these facilities, as well as recommendations on daylighting and other energy-saving measures. Commissioning also is covered, and case studies from facilities in five climate zones are provided.

"The recommendations in the Small Hospitals and Healthcare Facilities Guide provide good design practices for integrating energy efficiency in a healthcare environment, while maintaining indoor air quality and required airflow and pressurization relationships, Shanti Pless, chair of committee that wrote the guide, said."

Advanced Energy Design Guides are being developed through the collaboration of ASHRAE , the American Institute of Architects (AIA), the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America (IES), and the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), with support from the Department of Energy (DOE), to help meet all of an owner's energy performance requirements.