Illinois First Waste Transfer Station gets Gold LEED Ranking

Tuesday, October 28th marked the day for the Waste Management of Illinois to be one of the first Waste Transfer Stations in the United States to be recognized by the USGBC. The LEED program awarded the facility gold certification, its second highest LEED rating.

The 15-acre transfer facility serves as a key component of integrated waste processing for communities in Kane, Cook and Du Page counties. The facility handles non-hazardous solid wastes, recyclables and yard wastes. Materials recovered by local collection trucks are taken to the facility, where they are consolidated and transferred to larger semi-trailers for shipment to processing facilities or remote disposal sites. It's purpose is to achieve efficiency in waste processing and reduce transportation costs for the community.

The Bluff City Transfer Facility earned 42 LEED rating points, including 29 for design and 13 for construction. Some of the environmental elements that were implemented were: water use reduction; the diversion of construction waste from landfills; use of wood meeting the requirements of the Forest Stewardship Council certification program; the use of locally manufactured construction materials with high recycled content; and the reduction of energy usage by approximately 65%.

"Our Bluff City Transfer Facility represents a continuing commitment by Waste Management to pursue sustainability goals and responsible environmental stewardship," said Steve Batchelor, Market Area Vice President for Waste Management of Illinois. "Because we are in the environmental services business, this is important recognition for this facility and it is doubly gratifying to our Company and people. We are truly delighted the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) has chosen to bestow this honor on Waste Management for our efforts to develop a facility that meets the highest environmental standards."

Batchelor added, "Waste management has made a commitment to sustainability. Last year we outlined four company wide goals to help us continue to meet the growing need for smart, innovative waste management solutions. By the year 2020, we expect to triple the volume of recyclables we manage to 24 million tons a year; double the waste-based energy we produce to meet the needs of two million homes; to increase our collection fleet's fuel efficiency by 15 percent; and to expand the number of wildlife habitats at our landfills to 25,000 acres."

Top 10 LEED Homes

In this post I will highlight the top 10 USGBC LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) homes based on design and efficiency. The LEED hype is in full swing and more and more houses and even large scale condominiums and apartments are popping up all over the nation, this Friday post will showcase some of the top 10 designs. Im a sucker for clean lines and minimal interior design. Now a good interior designer will use native plants and colors that are in tune to the area of the building, but an even better designer will focus on the environmental impact in both building materials and energy costs. I have scoured the internet for some of the nicest LEED qualified homes, I hope you enjoy the images and if you have any suggestions on other LEED qualified homes please drop me a comment or an email and let me know where to find info on them. Have a good weekend everyone!

10. Lexus Hybrid Living, Santa Monica, California
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9. Architecture of Kieren Timberlake
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8. Hi'ilani House, Big Island, Hawaii
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7. Pasadena Eco House, Pasadena, California
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6. Spa Hotel in the Desert, Palm Springs, California
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5. Project7ten, Venice, California
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4. 32nd Street
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3. Margarido House
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2. IT House
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1. The Lucida
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New York sets the path for going green!

In the past year several very important, large strides have been made to turn NY into one of the nation's "green" cities. This has been no easy task as one can imagine, but the good folks at the USGBC in New York are on the right path. Last week several very important people including Mayor Bloomberg met at the Museum of Natural History to give out awards and to recognize the many companies and organizations stepping up and making a difference in New York.

Basically what is happening is builders are starting to realize the importance of not only building new buildings around green technology, but also in recycling old materials when tearing down structures. It seems that LEEDS is making strides left and right and over the coming years you will see more and more companies offering their expertise as more people are certified in the program. Let's hope that this trend picks up in other major cities across the US.