COVINGTON – St. Tammany Health System’s flagship St. Tammany Parish Hospital has earned the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star certification for superior energy performance.
On a scale of one to 100, St. Tammany earned a 91, meaning its main hospital campus is 91% more energy efficient than other U.S. hospitals.
According to Sherry Grady, the health system’s AVP of Management and Safety, the Energy Star certification is a direct result of a true team effort at the Covington hospital.
“At St. Tammany, caring for our community is far and away our top priority, but part of that is providing patient care in as responsible a way as possible,” Grady said. “That’s why we’re so excited to have earned this certification and why we’re so grateful to people like President and CEO Joan Coffman, Chief Operations Officer Sharon Toups and our Board of Commissioners for providing the resources needed over the years to attain such a distinction.”
Grady also credited the efforts of Keith Barré and Becky Parks of fl+WB architects, Chris Cox of GVA Engineering, and the health system’s Project Management and Plant Operations teams, all of whom she said played a part in earning the certification.
Buildings and plants earning the Energy Star certification are verified to perform in the top 25 percent of buildings nationwide, based on weather-normalized source energy use that takes into account occupancy, hours of operation and other key metrics. Energy Star is the only energy efficiency certification in the United States that is based on actual, verified energy performance.
“Improving the energy efficiency of our nation’s buildings is critical to protecting our environment,” said Cindy Jacobs, chief of the program’s Commercial & Industrial Branch. “From the boiler room to the board room, organizations are leading the way by making their buildings more efficient and earning EPA’s Energy Star certification.”
On average, Energy Star-certified buildings and plants use 35 percent less energy, cause 35 percent fewer greenhouse gas emissions, and are less expensive to operate than their peers – all without sacrifices in performance or comfort.
To date, tens of thousands of buildings and plants across all 50 U.S. states have earned the Energy Star seal. For more information about Energy Star buildings and plants, visit www.energystar.gov/buildings.