Thursday, October 6, 2011

Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Campus Gets LEED Certification

The new campus of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has scored the highest green certification for buildings, LEED Platinum, the foundation and its architect said today. The two said the entire campus has been awarded LEED-NC (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design for New Construction) Platinum certification, making it the largest, non-profit building in the world certified to the standard. LEED is a set of guidelines outlining how to build more environmentally friendly buildings, which has been adopted by the building industry as a standard way to measure eco-friendliness of construction. Among features of the campus is a one million gallon rainwater storage tank; "living roofs" and native plantings replacing an asphalt parking lot; efficient plumbing features; and a solar energy system.