March 17, 2003—The Plaza Building at Pima Community College’s Desert was awarded a bronze rating from the US Green Building Council, making it the first structure in Arizona to receive a LEED award. The LEED Bronze certifies that the building is “energy efficient, good for the environment, and good for the people who work in the building—in other words, a ‘green’ building.”
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is a program of the US Green Building Council that rates buildings based on defined, desirable standards for green buildings, materials, and practices for environmentally superior buildings.
The energy model for this building shows that it will use 21 percent less energy than a standard building. The College added $225,750 or 2.7 percent to the budget to achieve this goal. The energy savings will pay back the cost in the first 10 years of the minimum 50-year building life.
According to USGBC, a LEED-certified building has a higher value; is recognized by the industry; contributes to a market-transforming rating system; saves money by reusing and recycling materials; and retains value after demolition because a higher percent of its content is recyclable.
The College strives to include green standards in its specifications for bidding and construction on its campuses. These specifications include requirements for resource efficiency and management, such as techniques that minimize generation of waste, reuse and renovation of existing structures instead of demolition, reuse of materials on site, and use of products and materials with recycled contents.
