Rush University Medical Center has opened its new “green” garage for employee parking, a vivid example of Rush’s commitment to environmental sustainability.

The seven-story garage, at the corner of Flournoy and Paulina, on Chicago’s near West side, holds 795 parking spaces.  Although no LEED standard exists for parking garages, Rush’s new garage was built to conform to LEED standards.  Its “green” features include the following:

--Reusable materials were used to build the garage, including steel from northern Indiana, concrete made from recycled content, and low volatile organic compound adhesives, paintings, sealants and coatings. The materials were produced locally, to save energy transporting them.

--More than 90 percent of the garage’s construction waste was recycled.

--Otis Gen2 elevators capture the energy created during braking and feed it back into the garage’s electrical grid. The elevators also use polyurethane-coated steel belts and a gearless motor, which don’t need oil or other lubricants. The elevators save up to 50-percent more energy than conventional hydraulic and geared systems.

--The two bathrooms in the garage have low-flow plumbing fixtures.

--Rainwater that falls on the upper deck of the garage is filtered and diverted into tanks to be used for mechanical processes.

--Landscaping is with indigenous perennial plants, which are not discarded and re-planted every year and use less water than conventional lawn grass.

--Filtration planters, mini-wetlands that absorb and filter rainwater runoff, line the sidewalk.“Green screens,” or trellises with vines, along the north and west walls of the garage not only hide cars from view but also create natural shade and light control.

In addition, 25 parking stalls near the entranceway to the garage are reserved for hybrid and energy-efficient cars.

“It would have been a lot easier if we did not include preferred parking and the other environmentally sustainable features, but Rush is taking the idea of turning our campus ‘green’ very seriously,” said Joseph DeVoss, assistant vice president, Office of Transformation. “The new garage shows how we can find more environmentally sustainable solutions for everything we do here.”

The garage is the first structure to be completed as part of the Rush Transformation, a 10-year project, begun in 2006, that includes new facilities, renovations and state-of-the-art technologies to improve clinical outcomes and the entire patient and family experience. The centerpiece of the Transformation is a new 14-floor, 806,000-square-foot hospital, which is being constructed to qualify for LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification. The hospital is slated for completion in 2012.