The Visiting Nurse Association of Chittenden and Grand Isle Counties Holly D. Miller building at 1110 Prim Road in Colchester has earned the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star rating signifying the building performs in the top 25 percent of similar facilities nationwide for energy efficiency. The prestigious award is given to commercial buildings such as banks, supermarkets, hospitals, hotels and schools that use an average of 35 percent less energy and also release 35 percent less carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.
‘This is important for obvious environmental reasons, but also because homecare is inherently a less than ‘green’ business,’ says Church Hindes, VNA President and CEO. ‘Hundreds of nurses, therapists, nursing assistants, social workers and care attendants travel throughout Chittenden and Grand Isle counties delivering needed care in the homes of over 5,000 individuals and families each year. We estimate that our caregivers travel over 1.5 million miles each year. Making our home office more energy efficient is an important way we can shrink our carbon footprint.’
To achieve Energy Star status the VNA’s Manger of Facilities and Operations, Robert Sharpe, has worked over the past few years to make energy efficient improvements to the Prim Road building. The changes range in scope from installing motion-activated light switches in all offices which reduces our electricity use to resealing windows inside and out to reduce heating and cooling costs to replacing our gas boiler with high efficiency boilers which reduced the VNA’s natural gas consumption by a third to replacing many of our aging heat pumps with new high efficiency units.
‘Many of these improvements have made the VNA eligible for rebates or refunds or have been paid for in part by grants including American Recovery and Reinvestment Act monies which helped fund the heat pump project,’ says Sharpe. ‘The VNA is also realizing significant reductions in electricity costs,’ he adds.
Source: Energy Star
VNA office building earns EPA Energy Star rating
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