The U.S. Green Building Council has awarded the Foothill Gold Line Operations Campus main shop building in Monrovia its Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) Gold Certification, one of the highest achievements in sustainable design, and makes it the first of its kind to receive the distinction. LEED is a green building certification program that recognizes best-in-class building strategies and practices.
Features of the building:
- An on-site 714-panel, 178.5-kilowatt solar panel array that generates nearly a third of the energy needs of the main shop building, with excess energy made available to the local grid.
- Solar-tracking skylights that move with the sun to maximize use of natural light.
- Sensors that detect human motion as well as the level of natural light available and adjust the high-efficiency LED lighting for actual need.
- High-efficiency fixtures and infrared water faucets that dispense less water.
Additional sustainability features incorporated into the overall 24-acre facility that went above and beyond those needed to achieve LEED Gold Certification include:
- A comprehensive stormwater management system that captures 100% of rainfall; filtering and infiltrating the first 112,000 gallons during any rain event into the groundwater aquifers below.
- Use of only recycled, reclaimed water for the carwash, which averages 60,000 gallons of water use daily.
- Smart sprinkler technology and the planting of a drought-tolerant plants that reduce landscape water consumption by 50%.
- Use of recycled materials for half of the building materials used on site; and locally sourcing all of the track ballast, aggregate and concrete to reduce the environmental impact of transporting them to the site.
- Brad Haugaard
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