The West Palm Beach VA Medical Center’s mission is to honor America’s Veterans by providing exceptional health care that improves their health and well-being. A safe and therapeutic environment is critical to this mission; therefore, the Medical Center is committed to protecting the environment, as well as the health and safety of patients, employees 
and visitors. Executive Order (EO)13423, “Strengthening Federal Environmental, Energy, and Transportation Management,” requires Veteran Health Administration (VHA) facilities to implement sustainable practices for energy efficiency, greenhouse gas emissions, and petroleum use reductions; renewable energy; acquisition of recycled content, energy efficient, biobased, and environmentally preferable products and services; pollution prevention and recycling; reduction or elimination of toxics and hazardous chemicals; high performance buildings; vehicle fleet management; electronic stewardship; and water conservation.
In January 2014, the medical center completed its first renewable energy project. Photovoltaic panels were installed on three buildings located on the campus. During sunny days, these buildings have 100% electricity generated by solar panels. As of August 18, 2014, we have reduced our power consumption by 182 megawatt hours (MWH), which is equivalent to 16,049 gallons of gasoline and 109 tons of carbon dioxide emissions. We are pursuing a new project to install solar panels on our Community Living Center (nursing home) roof.
