What's Happening in Westbury, NY…

SUNY College at Old Westbury recently pulled ahead of the pack when it comes to environmentally conscious construction, bagging an award for its efforts.

In the summer of 2012, the college opened its new Academic Building. At 147,000 square feet in size, it has been a boon to the campus. The Academic Building was recently awarded LEED Gold Certification by the US Green Building Council. It is the first building on college campus in the county to received Gold certification.

LEED certification is a third party verification program used to show that a building or residence was created and constructed with several areas of environmental concern in mind. They include water savings, indoor environmental quality, sustainable site development, energy efficiency, and materials selection.

There are four levels on the LEED rating system for new construction. Gold is the second highest level. Each level is awarded based on the number of credits a building receives in the five categories. SUNY College at Old Westbury can use its recent certification in promotional materials, perhaps using banner printing to advertise the LEED rating on the front of the building.

Features helping the new building to earn the rating include a design that makes the most of natural light while blocking out heat gain from the windows. The building also has energy efficient heating, cooling, and ventilation systems. It uses about 29% less energy than regular buildings and has water saving fixtures using about half as much water as standard fixtures. Materials used to construct the Academic Building were largely sourced from local companies and were primarily recycled.