Green LDS Church History Library

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints was kind enough to send us an invite to their media day for the super fresh Church History Library. This cutting-edge building is the embodiment of a mammoth effort spanning several years -- 15 years of planning, 4 years of construction, and countless hours tagging, archiving, and moving millions of artifacts and records to the new location. With several temperature controlled and sub-zero vaults, a building like this would generally use a lot of energy, but the design prioritized energy-efficiency and LEED certification.

The Church History Library features a green roof, super-efficient HVAC system, drought-tolerant landscaping, efficient windows, air filtering system, efficient plumbing, abundant interior natural light, and everything else that goes with obtaining LEED certification.

The LDS Church just submitted LEED 2.2 paperwork for anticipated LEED Silver certification. Church buildings tend to include sustainable elements anyway (e.g., durable materials, large overhangs, etc.), but pursuing LEED certification in this instance is an example of the organization's overall commitment to the community, church members, and the environment. I even heard plans of net zero energy church buildings in development, which is quite intriguing, so we'll keep you posted ...