ATLANTA — Green Building Initiative (GBI), a nonprofit organization committed to accelerating the adoption of sustainable building practices and providers of the Green Globes® rating system, recognized ASHRAE for achieving the highest rating of four Green Globes on their international headquarters.

Jerry Yudelson, president, GBI, presented the rating system certificate to ASHRAE president Tom Phoenix during ASHRAE’s 2015 Winter Conference, held in Chicago.

“ASHRAE represents the gold standard for building energy-efficiency standards,” Yudelson said. “We’re pleased that ASHRAE now stands at the pinnacle of achievement for green building, with the award of four Green Globes for its Atlanta headquarters building from the GBI. Through a months-long process, GBI’s Green Globes assessor worked with ASHRAE staff to document the building’s sustainable management practices. Only 3 percent of projects assessed by GBI achieve four Globes-certification, so this recognition is a rare honor and a tribute to ASHRAE’s enlightened building operations.”

Sustainable measures include ongoing benchmarking in Energy Star for energy and water consumption; energy audits through ASHRAE’s Building Energy Quotient system; quarterly inspection and maintenance of systems containing ozone depleting substances; water audits for leaks and regular monitoring of recycling efforts; and waste reduction and diversion rate.

“ASHRAE continues to analyze and support technologies and tools that help accelerate the transformation to a more sustainable built environment globally,” said Phoenix. “As building sustainability rating systems gain more traction, they can guide building owners, operators, and the occupants they serve on ways to create healthy indoor environments that also reduce the impact of buildings on outdoor environments. Sustainability rating systems complement consensus standards and progressive building codes as we continually advance building systems, designs, and operations. We are delighted our headquarters earned the highest Green Globes rating to complement our original LEED-Platinum rating.”

Publication date: 2/23/2015

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