LEED Briefing: TD Bank, PetSmart, NextEra, KFC

Here’s the latest news on businesses using the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification.

TD Bank has achieved Platinum status in LEED’s certification for commercial interiors, LEED-CI, for its 60,000 square foot Auburn Call Center in Maine. The bank has also opened its first two “green” locations in the state, in Bangor and Portland.

The two banks have been built using TD Bank’s new green prototype store design standard, and will target LEED certification based on their performance in five areas: the use of sustainable sites, low water usage, energy efficiency, recycled materials and resource use, and indoor environmental air quality. And in May, the bank plans to open its first net-zero energy bank branch.

KFC hopes to earn LEED certification for its newest restaurant in Indianapolis. The building is designed to use 25 percent less energy and water than a conventional KFC restaurant, and features energy-efficient cooking equipment, LED lighting, locally sourced building materials, recycling for cooking oil and plastics, and parking preference for hybrid vehicles.

The restaurant is part of KFC’s E3 initiative, which seeks economically responsible ways of saving energy and being environmentally aware, according to Roger McClendon, chief sustainability officer for parent company Yum Brands. The company previously achieved LEED Gold for a KFC/Taco Bell restaurant in Northampton, Massachusetts in 2009.

Utility NextEra Energy has achieved LEED Gold for existing buildings for its Juno Beach, Fla., headquarters. The company says that it worked for three years to integrate the necessary energy-saving measures while ensuring smooth operations at its operational units, some of which work 24 hours a day to monitor power plants and electric grids.

Key changes included upgrades to heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC), lighting improvements, adding solar water heating, implementing paper recycling programs and water conservation projects that have reduced annual consumption by 20 percent.

Michigan-based medical research firm the Van Andel Institute has been awarded LEED Platinum for new construction, for its 240,000 square foot Phase II building. Features of the eight-story, $178 million facility, designed by renowned firm Rafael Vinoly Architects, include photovoltaic panels, a heat recovery system, 27,000-gallon rainwater storage tanks, low-flow fixtures that reduce water usage by 41 percent, the diversion of 79 percent of construction waste from the landfill, and CO2 sensors that detect the presence of people and automatically adjust room ventilation rates.

The City College of San Francisco has achieved LEED-NC Gold certification for its 110,000 square foot Joint-Use Academic Facility, constructed by Bovis Lend Lease. The building’s louvered central atrium and skylight system allows airflow from the perimeter classrooms to be exhausted through the glazed skylights at the roof level, maximizing air circulation and passive cooling.

The facility also features a green roof, radiant flooring, high-performance windows, integrated photovoltaic panels and low-VOC adhesives, sealants, paints, coating and carpet. Over 70 percent of construction waste was diverted from landfills, the college says.

PetSmart has received LEED Silver certification for its McCarran, Nev., distribution center. The building features a white reflective roof with a weighted solar reflectance index (SRI) compliant area of 122 percent, and has achieved an Energy Star performance rating of 85.

The company built an underground 10,000 gallon water repository, with a recirculation function, to reduce water for fish by 90 percent. The system also enhances the time it takes to return water to usable standards, the company said. A water conservation plan has resulted in a 78 percent reduction in potable water use.

PetSmart opened its first LEED Silver store in 2009 in Manahawkin, N.J., and the company is also pursuing certification for its Babylon, New York store.

SelectHealth was recognized with LEED Silver certification for its new headquarters in Murray, Utah. Features included daylight views for more than 90 percent of work stations, water-saving landscape design, high-efficiency fixtures, reserved parking for low-emitting and alternative-fuel vehicles, and a building-wide mixed-use recycling system.