Sacramento Green Buildings
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Sacramento owns the first LEED EB (Existing Building) Platinum high-rise in the world. The California EPA building was certified in 2004. Key features include:
- Maximum daylight penetration through optimal placement of windows
- Dual pane "Low E" exterior glass for energy conservation.
- Super high efficiency/low mercury lighting tubes and perimeter light sensors that automatically dim the lights when the sun shines in brightly.
- Solar energy generation of up to 55,180 kWh by the 736 photovoltaic panels mounted on the low-rise roof (offsetting 44 thousand pounds CO2).
- Low-flow toilets.
- At least two mechanical rooms per floor, which function as "fan rooms" and can flush that floor with outside air on-command.
- Use of environmentally-sensitive and resource-efficient materials.
- Provision of 25 electric vehicle-charging stations on the roof of the city's Lot I parking garage (Cal/EPA is also pursuing solar panels for electrical generation in connection with these stations).
- Zero-VOC (volatile organic compound) paints used throughout interior.
- 52% recycled-content carpet tiles, with a "sticky-back" feature for minimum VOCs.
- Special design of the dock area recycling center and recycling collection points on each floor to maximize recycling activities.
The City has seven other projects that are currently registered under the USGBC's LEED program for which LEED Silver is the goal.