Gundersen Sparta Clinic honored with 'green' award

The Gundersen Sparta Clinic has been recognized for their successful sustainability practices. The clinic was one of the organizations recently honored at the U.S. Green Building Council Wisconsin (USGBC Wisconsin) Transformation Leadership Awards. The event highlights groups and organizations championing sustainable practices and helping drive the green transformation of Wisconsin.

"The Transformation Awards recognize the triple bottom-line benefits of green buildings: people, planet and profit," says Korinne Haeffel, director of USGBC Wisconsin. "Sustainable buildings are not only good for the environment, they also save money while providing a healthy living and working space for building occupants. We're excited to honor the leaders who are working to ensure this goal is met, and who are transforming communities across Wisconsin."

A majority of the award winners, including the Gundersen Sparta Clinic, were recognized for their participation in LEED, or Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, the world's most widely used green building rating system.

Late last year, Gundersen Sparta had already surpassed its energy-savings goal by 9 percent, after being open for less than a year. This early success was a result of facility and operational staff maintaining an "energy-conscience attitude while working in the building" and an HVAC system running more efficiently than predicted, says Alan Eber, manager of Facility Operations at Gundersen.

Gundersen Sparta is equipped with an array of solar photovoltaic panels capable of producing 100 kilowatts of energy. The building also boasts geothermal wells to heat and cool the building, a decentralized heat-pump system to reduce fan power and move air from cool spaces to warm areas and vice versa, occupancy sensors to reduce lighting and HVAC use when space is not being utilized, and many other green features.

To learn more about Gundersen's sustainability programs, visit gundersenenvision.org.