Goodwill Industries of Northwest North Carolina announced today that it has been awarded LEED certification by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) for its retail store in Elkin.  LEED is the USGBC’s leading rating system for designing and constructing the world’s greenest, most energy efficient, and high performing buildings.   

 

Goodwill's store at 477 CC Camp Road in Elkin was designed by Walter Robbs Callahan & Pierce to achieve LEED certification for energy use, lighting, water and material use as well as incorporating a variety of other sustainable strategies.  LEED verifies environmental performance, occupant health and financial return.  LEED was established for market leaders to design & construct buildings that protect and save precious resources while also making good economic sense.   

 

“With each new LEED-certified building, we get one step closer to USGBC’s vision of a sustainable built environment within a generation,” said Rick Fedrizzi, President, CEO & Founding Chair, U.S. Green Building Council. “As the newest member of the LEED family of green buildings, Goodwill’s retail store is an important addition to the growing strength of the green building movement.” 

 

LEED certification of the Elkin store was based on a number of green design and construction features that positively impact the project itself and the broader community.  Goodwill has built several facilities to LEED standards in recent years, including its LEED certified Regional Operations Center in Winston-Salem at 2760 Peters Creek Parkway.  

 

The U.S. Green Building Council is a nonprofit membership organization whose vision is a sustainable built environment within a generation. Its membership includes corporations, builders, universities, government agencies, and other nonprofit organizations. Since UGSBC’s founding in 1993, the Council has grown to more than 17,000 member companies and organizations, a comprehensive family of LEED® green building rating systems, an expansive educational offering, the industry’s popular Greenbuild International Conference and Expo (www.greenbuildexpo.org), and a network of 78 local chapters, affiliates, and organizing groups. For more information, visit www.usgbc.org. 

 

The LEED® (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Green Building Rating System™ is a feature-oriented rating system that awards buildings points for satisfying specified green building criteria.  The six major environmental categories of review include:  Sustainable Sites, Water Efficiency, Energy and Atmosphere, Materials and Resources, Indoor Environmental Quality and Innovation and Design.  Certified, Silver, Gold, and Platinum levels of LEED green building certification are awarded based on the total number of points earned within each LEED category.  LEED can be applied to all building types including new construction, commercial interiors, core & shell developments, existing buildings, homes, neighborhood developments, schools and retail facilities.  Incentives for LEED are available at the state and local level and LEED has also been adopted nationwide by federal agencies, state and local governments, and interested private companies.  For more information, visit www.usgbc.org/LEED.