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Hines, Whirlpool, Frito-Lay and TXU Energy Land LEED Ratings

<p>A brace of buildings ranging from a highrise to potato chip factory have recently earned LEED ratings.</p> <p>&nbsp;</p>

In San Francisco, the 31-story highrise housing West Coast headquarters for JPMorgan Chase & Co. earned a LEED-Platinum rating for under the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design standards for Existing Buildings: Operations and Maintenance.

Built in 2002, the 667,000-square-foot building earned top points for resource efficiency as a result of retrofits and conservation measures that have cut indoor water by 36 percent and made the highrise 60 percent more efficient than comparably sized non-green office buildings.

The property is owned by National Office Partners, a joint venture between Hines and the California Public Employees’ Retirement System. Hines is green building leader with more 100 million square feet of projects LEED-certified, pre-certified or registered.San Francisco Highrise

Four regional distribution centers for Whirlpool Corporation also attained LEED ratings. The company's centers in McDonough, Ga. (near Atlanta) and Spanaway, Wash. (near Seattle), earned LEED-Gold certification. Centers in Columbus, Ohio, and Denver, Colo., received LEED Certification. The Georgia and Ohio facilities are among the 10 largest LEED-rated distribution centers in the U.S.

The Frito-Lay factory in Topeka, Kan., was awarded its LEED-Gold certification as an existing building. The nearly 30-year-old 600,000-square-foot-facility has:

  • Reduced its natural gas consumption by 39 percent per pound of product and its electricity use by 27 percent per pound of product since 1999.
  • Reduced its water consumption by nearly 52 percent per pound of product since 1999.
  • Achieved nearly zero-waste status. As of September 2009, less than 1 percent of the facility's solid waste goes to landfill.


The plant makes Lay's potato chips, Fritos, Tostitos, Doritos and Cheetos.

TXU HQAnd this week TXU Energy, Texas'  largest utility, achieved LEED-Silver certification for its headquarters in Irving (shown right).

Elements contributing to the designation include:

  • Lighting motion sensors throughout the building.
  • Energy-efficient lighting, new and retrofitted.
  • Air temperatures and humidity monitoring.
  • Recycling centers.
  • LED fixtures in parking garage.



Top image and image of highrise courtesy of Hines. Third image courtesy of TXU Energy.

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