The Asia Pacific headquarters for Eaton Corporation has earned LEED-Gold certification for commercial interiors and is the largest facility in China to attain green building endorsement for that standard.

The diversified manufacturer's new five-story, 10,000-square-meter office building in Shanghai is also the first Eaton facility that is fully LEED certified.

The company expanded the North American headquarters for its electrical business in 2008, but only portions of the facility in Pittsburgh, Penn., received LEED-Gold certification for new construction.

To qualify for certification under the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design standards, a building must be designed to cut water consumption, optimize energy performance, use materials and resources that reduce environmental impacts, and provide improved indoor environmental quality.

According to Eaton, green elements of the Shanghai project include:

• Daylight and views for 90 percent of the seats in the building
• Fixtures and other measures that reduce water use by 34 percent
• 31 percent of the furniture in the building is reused
• 70 percent of wood used is certified by the Forest Stewardship Council.
• 76 percent of materials used are sourced regionally
• 100 percent of the carpeting is recyclable
• 88 percent of demolition debris was recycled

In addition, energy efficient Eaton technology is showcased in the building, including uninterruptible power system equipment, breakers, switchgear and lighting control systems.

USGBC co-founder, President and CEO Rick Fedrizzi praised the company. "Eaton's LEED certification demonstrates tremendous green building leadership," Fedrizzi said in a statement yesterday.

Earlier this year, Fedrizzi and Youwei Wang, chairman of China's Green Building Council, signed a memorandum of understanding about their organizations' plans to collaborate in fostering green building and carbon emissions reductions in the building sector.

China's Green Building Council was established two years ago and the country is aggressively pursuing more environmentally responsible construction and cleantech development.

The agreement was formalized during China Green Building Conference in the spring. Also during the conference, the USGBC and the U.S. Department of Energy recognized the first firm to attain LEED-Platinum certification for new construction in China. The honor went to the 250,000-square-foot Shanghai Engine Center, which was a joint venture of China Airlines and Pratt & Whitney.

Images courtesy of Eaton.