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> </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.
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.
And 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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