"LEED matches the core values this company has held since its founding," said RenewAire's president Chuck Gates. "We believe LEED will be a major market driver for growing energy recovery ventilator (ERV) sales."

The LEED certification program is a voluntary program that awards points for superior energy efficiency and green building practices. In total, the RenewAire facility is expected to earn approximately 35 points out of the 69 maximum possible points and earn a Silver Certification, the first in Madison, Wis., according to the company. The extra cost is currently estimated to be $1/sq ft with an expected payback period of one to two years.

Many products and design features contribute to certification. Some of these include: day lighting, multistage high efficiency artificial lighting, sealed combustion radiant heat, 14-SEER CFC and HCFC-free (no chlorine) air conditioning, recycled soda bottle carpeting, corn-based office dividers, and wheat straw board cabinets. RenewAire ribbon-cutting ceremony ribbon cutters (pictured above from left to right) are Gates, Madison mayor Dave Cieslewicz, and Keiichi Hasegawa of Mitsubishi Electric in Japan.

A LEED fact sheet is available at the RenewAire Web site www.renewaire.com/LEED.pdf.

Publication date: 11/21/2005