Jefferson Green Raises Bar for Commercial Buildings

Jefferson Green, not to be confused with Jetson Green, is one of only twelve LEED-CS Gold buildings in the country.  It's also the first Gold commercial building and the largest and most energy-efficient LEED building in New Mexico.  AND it's expected to be the first commercial building in New Mexico to certify under LEED-CI (this one Gold, too).  That's a double Gold.  The three-story, 85,000 sf spec office building uses 30% less water and 45% less energy than the average local office building.  Designed by Dekker/Perich/Sabatini, Jefferson Green is a model for commercial buildings of the future.  The design called for some of the following features: underfloor air system, operable windows, water-efficient plumbing fixtures, xeric landscaping, low-VOC interior materials and applicants, IceStone countertops, Armstrong Dune ceiling tile, 3Form resin, and Forbo Marmoleum flooring.  The building received all the possible LEED points in the Indoor Environmental Quality category and almost all the possible points in the Water Efficiency category.  Nice work. 

Comments

[Martin]

"30% less water and 45% less energy than the average local office building" - this sounds nice, but considering the still dominating non-green buildings out there, it becomes kind of relative, right?

BTW, how does LEED compare to for instance German Standards like Passivhaus or Low-Enegry-Houses? Just looking at the Energon Building in Ulm, Germany (http://www.energon-ulm.de/), I would be interesting if Jefferson Green comes anywhere close to the "worlds biggest passivhause".

Btw, great blog, I really enjoy reading it.