July 10, 2002—The Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) announced that DEP’s Cambria Office Building in Ebensburg, Cambria County, Pa., won first prize for solar-electric buildings in the 2002 Northeast Green Building Awards.
The building has a 15-kilowatt solar-panel system that generates renewable energy, which is then sold to Green Mountain Energy to offset the cost of energy use for the building. The Cambria building has less than half the actual energy cost and usage of a typical office building. One-third of the building’s total energy needs comes from the photovoltaic panels.
The Northeast Sustainable Energy Association sponsored the competition. The Cambria building was the first facility in the country to achieve a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.
The building is DEP’s second green facility. The first was the Southcentral Regional Office Building in Harrisburg. DEP broke ground on a third green facility, a district office building in Washington County, in June.
For more information, visit the PA PowerPort. PA Keyword: “green building.”
