WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has announced the release of the final installment in a series of four 50% Advanced Energy Design Guides (AEDGs). This latest guide has been developed to help architects, engineers, and contractors design and build highly efficient hospital buildings, to help save energy and cut facility operational costs. The guide provides a practical approach for designers and builders of large hospitals, and other major commercial building types, to achieve 50 percent energy savings compared to the building energy code used in many parts of the nation.

Beyond helping building professionals achieve efficiency exceeding the current energy code, the AEDGs also provide climate-specific recommendations to incorporate current off-the-shelf energy efficient building products. These recommendations help designers and builders choose advanced building envelope assemblies, high-efficiency heating and cooling systems, and incorporate other energy-saving measures such as daylighting and associated control systems. In addition, efficiency measures found in the guides can be used in the development of future commercial building energy codes.

The 50% Advanced Energy Design Guide series has been developed through a partnership with the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), American Institute of Architects (AIA), U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), and Illuminating Engineering Society of North America (IESNA). The Large Hospital guide is the final installment in the current series, and follows the guides for Small and Medium Office Buildings and K-12 Schools which were released in 2011, and the guide for Medium Retail Buildings released in January of this year.