• Materials and resources.

• Indoor environmental quality.

• Innovation and design process.

Each area of focus contains subtopics, each of which are assigned value points. In order to earn certification, points are awarded, and the higher the point value, the higher the certification. Gold certification is the second highest LEED rating available next to platinum.

Muskogee Community Hospital and its investors, Roberts said, are committed to green philosophy not only because it seems like the right thing to do. It also has been proven beneficial for patients and other hospital occupants.

“Studies show patients heal faster, and secondary illnesses and infections occur with less frequency,” Knight said of facilities that offer healthier environments. “Employee productivity gains also have been recorded as a result of the healthier environments.”

Some of the environmentally sustainable features Roberts pointed out at the medical facility include the building’s natural lighting features in patients’ rooms, the hospital’s geothermal heat pumps and air filtering systems, and building components that use materials that are less toxic than some traditional materials.

Going green can be a costly venture.

Roberts, however, said higher up-front costs can be mitigated or recouped by the savings incurred over time by using higher efficiency heating, cooling and lighting systems along with energy efficient medical equipment.

According to the U.S. Green Building Council, studies indicate an initial up-front investment of an additional 2 percent can yield more than 10 times the initial investment during the life cycle of an LEED-certified building.

For example, Roberts said, the geothermal heat pump system that will be used to heat and cool Muskogee Community Hospital is expected to reduce the facility’s cooling costs by 40 percent to 55 percent. Heating costs, Roberts said, will be cut by an estimated 90 percent.

The ground source, geothermal heat pump system that will be used to heat and cool the hospital will incorporate 280 on-site wells drilled 300 feet deep beneath the earth and a number of air exchangers positioned throughout the building.

Roberts said the hospital’s lighting will consist of light-emitting diode systems, which require much less electricity than other illumination systems.

In addition to cost savings, Jen Burianek, a consultant with Denver-based Ambient Energy who is working on Muskogee Community Hospital project, said environmentally sustainable facilities can be used as a marketing tool to attract clients and recruit employees.