Sedgebrook earns Energy Star certification

For the second consecutive year, Sedgebrook senior living community in Lincolnshire has earned the Environmental Protection Agency's Energy Star certification for superior energy performance.

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.

"Sedgebrook continues to demonstrate true environmental leadership by reducing harmful greenhouse gas emissions that are proven to contribute to climate change," said Jean Lupinacci, Energy Star director for commercial and industrial buildings.

This year, the one-million square foot independent living apartment building at Sedgebrook earned the honor; last year, the Energy Star certification was awarded to the 100,000-square-foot Radford Green Health Center at Sedgebrook.

Ovidiu Manea, director of general services at Sedgebrook said that he and his team sought the award for several reasons.

"It's good to prove to our greater community, our residents, our staff, and ownership, that we're dedicated to doing what we're able to for the environment while, at the same time, saving money where we can," Manea said.

Manea said that Energy Star provides guidelines for how to achieve certification.

"In addition to keeping careful track of consumption, some of the things we did included replacing fluorescent and CFL lights with LED lighting, installing occupancy sensors where appropriate, buying gas and electric ahead of time to get good pricing, upgrading boilers and cooling towers with those with higher efficiencies, and using a Building Automation System for load shedding," he said. "We've had great results, and we'll keep monitoring everything.

"It's really important to us to be good stewards of the environment," Manea said.

Sedgebrook is a Life Plan Community in Lincolnshire. For information, visit www.WelcomeToSedgebrook.com or call (847) 901-3319.