The Boeing Company on December 7 announced that its Houston site recently received Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold certification, the latest official recognition of the site's efforts to improve its environmental performance. The U.S. Green Building Council's LEED certification system is the foremost program for the design, construction and operation of green buildings. The certification process reviews energy, lighting, water and material use, and a variety of other sustainable strategies.
The LEED Gold certification was awarded to the Houston facility's Bay Area Boulevard building in September in the category of "existing buildings." The site also earned International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 14001 certification in September and an Energy Star rating for the Bay Area Boulevard building in December 2008. The Bay Area Boulevard building is a 399,000-square-foot facility surrounded by wildlife at the border of metropolitan Houston and the wetlands of the Texas Gulf Coast. Houston is the first Boeing site to carry all three environmental certifications and one of only seven Houston-area companies to have a LEED Gold-certified existing building.
"These certifications lay the foundation for continually improving our site's environmental performance for reducing pollution and waste, increasing recycling rates and improving energy efficiency," said Brewster Shaw, vice president and general manager for Boeing Space Exploration. "Most importantly, they ensure our communities and our customers know that we're doing our part to protect the environment."
By retrofitting the Houston site's heating and cooling system and installing more efficient lighting and automated controls, Boeing has reduced energy consumption by more than 2 million kilowatt hours annually, or enough electricity to power about 170 average homes. The new heating and cooling system has saved the site $250,000 per year in energy costs since it was installed in 2007. The energy-efficient lighting system controls the building's lighting automatically, based on peak employee occupancy hours. During off-peak hours, employees can call an automated number to have the lights turned on in their designated work area.
The 21-acre site has more than 2,500 employees and serves as the headquarters for Boeing's Space Exploration division, which includes the Constellation, International Space Station and Space Shuttle programs.
The ISO 14001 environmental management system is a global standard – a common approach – to continually improve an organization's environmental goals for reducing pollution and waste, increasing recycling rates and improving energy efficiency.
Energy Star, jointly sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy, is dedicated to helping businesses and homeowners save money and protect the environment through energy-efficient products and practices. Energy Star offers a proven energy-management strategy for companies by helping them measure current energy performance, set goals, track savings and reward improvements.
A unit of The Boeing Company, Boeing Integrated Defense Systems is one of the world's largest space and defense businesses specializing in innovative and capabilities-driven customer solutions, and the world's largest and most versatile manufacturer of military aircraft. Headquartered in St. Louis, Boeing Integrated Defense Systems is a $32 billion business with 70,000 employees worldwide.