The University of Vermont Medical Center takes a green approach to facilities planning, design and construction. We believe sustainable building practices positively benefit our environment and, most importantly, our patients.

Green Spaces

The UVM Medical Center offers green spaces for patients, staff and visitors to enjoy. Our rooftop garden features a picnicking space, a grassy area and raised beds for growing food.

We also have a Healing Garden, which is visible to various inpatient units and infusion bays. The space includes trees, benches, a walkway and a garden with flowers, herbs and vegetables.

Green Design Principles

The UVM Medical Center is committed to following rigid national guidelines for environmentally friendly construction. The Master Facilities plan calls for meeting LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification for new buildings and major renovations.

This requires us to focus on five key areas of human and environmental health:

  • Sustainable site development
  • Water savings
  • Energy efficiency
  • Materials selection
  • Indoor environmental quality

LEED Certification

The UVM Medical Center has achieved LEED recognition for a number of projects. This includes LEED Gold Certification for the following facilities:

  • The Miller Building
  • Radiation Oncology
  • Clinical Research Center
  • Mother Baby Unit
  • Garden Atrium

Energy Performance Goals

At the UVM Medical Center, we care about our impact on our environment. Reducing the energy our buildings use is one of the many ways we aim to be good stewards of our natural resources.

Our new Miller Building, which we opened on June 1, 2019, includes many energy-saving features and monitoring capabilities, making it possible for us to share our progress. As part of this effort, we set an energy performance goal for the building and we are tracking the building’s actual use compared to that target.

What are we measuring?

  • Air conditioning – the amount of cooling BTUs going into the Miller Building for space temperature
  • Steam heat – the amount of heating BTUs going into the Miller Building for space temperature and hot water heating
  • Electricity – the amount of electricity used in the Miller Building for lights, fans, elevators, medical equipment, computers, phones and more

We use these three sets of data to calculate EUI for the building.

What is an EUI?

Energy Use Intensity (EUI) is a unit of measurement used to describe a building's annual energy consumption relative to its gross square footage. Think of it as “miles per gallon” of gasoline for a building. The lower the EUI, the more efficient the building. The chart below indicates our EUI on an annual basis. The national average EUI for hospitals is 234. Our target EUI is 143. Over time, this chart will show how our EUI fluctuates and how it compares to hospitals across the country.

Bar graph thumbnail, title Miller Building EUI Graph 2022, comparing energy, EUI, at two Medical Center Buildings and the design target.

 

 

View PDF Version of the Miller Building Graph

What does this graph show?

  • The EUI of the Miller Building based on actual metered data
  • How we compare to the design target of the Miller Building
  • How we compare to an average hospital in the northeast

How often is this data updated?

The UVM Medical Center updates its EUI annually as part of our participation in the Energy Star Portfolio Manager Program. This program allows the organization to benchmark energy usage compared to other health care organizations across the country. The EUI data for the Miller Building will be updated annually and re-displayed as part of this process. We will be able to use our data to ensure that the Miller Building performs as designed or better, in the decades ahead.