Following LEED’s Following LEED’s
lead for building lead for building
materialsmaterials
Understanding the
“recycled content”
requirement
Crystals, the complex steel-framed centerpiece of Las Vegas’ CityCenter retail and entertainment development is LEED Gold rated.
The project is also a recipient of AISC’s 2010 IDEAS2 building award. Photo courtesy of Schuff Steel Co., Phoenix.
By Kate Bachman, Editor
So you’re expanding your plant to house that new press or other capi- tal equipment, or you’ve outgrown
your building and want to build another.
So what is the buzz, you wonder, about
this LEED® certification, and should you
try to achieve it for your building or expansion? If so, what would it take?
Obtaining the U.S. Green Building
Council’s (USGBC) LEED certification
has become a quest—even a pillar of
corporate policy—for some manufacturers and other businesses that view the
platinum, gold, or silver certification as
the definitive standard—or “green standard,” if you will.
Power management manufacturer
Eaton Corp., Cleveland, has achieved
LEED Gold certification for several of
its facilities. The decision to pursue it
was made both for environmental and
business reasons, according to John
White, director of energy management
and sustainability solutions, for Eaton.
“We think building LEED buildings is
a wise thing to do, both from an environmental perspective and a business perspective,” White said. “It cost us only
an additional 1½ percent to make our
Pittsburgh headquarters a LEED Gold
facility, and we project an investment
payback of 2½ to three years, mainly
from the energy savings,” he said.
“Also, we play a role in delivering
products and services in the energy ef-
ficiency and building market. We think if
you’re going to ask other people to pur-
chase products that go into LEED build-
ings, you should probably be doing the
same yourself—lead by example.”
White added, “We have green teams
in most of our buildings now. The build-
ing becomes kind of a rallying point for
a lot of our sustainability efforts.”
