Page 132 - Green Building Through Integrated Design

PUBLIC RELATIONS AND MARKETING 109

PLATINUM PROJECT PROFILE
Laurence S. Rockefeller Preserve, Grand Teton National Park,
Wyoming
The Laurence S. Rockefeller Preserve in Grand Teton serves as a visitor center.
Located near Jackson Hole, Wyoming, the 7500-square-feet building houses an
interpretive center for the National Park Service. The building’s design should
reduce energy use by 84 percent and save $2000 annually. A ground-source heat
pump and photovoltaic system is expected to provide 58 percent of the center’s
electricity. All of the wood used in construction was certified to FSC standards.
The restrooms at the facility use composting toilets, saving an estimated 76,000
gallons of water annually.*

Health Improvements

Of course, a key element of productivity is healthy workers. By focusing on measures
to improve indoor environmental quality such as increased ventilation, daylighting,
views to the outdoors, and low-toxicity finishes and furniture, people in green buildings
†
show an average reduction in symptoms of 41.5 percent on an annual basis. Obviously,
healthy employees are more productive, since they’re at work more and likely to be per-
forming at a higher energy level than those who are sick or not feeling well.
Since most companies are effectively self-insured (i.e., your health insurance costs go
up the more claims you have) and most government agencies and large companies are
actually self-insured, it makes good economic sense to be concerned about the effect of
building design on people’s health. In addition, given what is already known about the
health effects of various green building measures, a company might be inviting lawsuits
if it didn’t take all feasible measures to design and construct a healthy building.

Public Relations and Marketing

Many developers and building owners, both public sector and private companies, are
finding considerable marketing and public relations benefits from creating LEED-
certified green buildings. National media in the United States and Canada have effec-
tively bought the proposition that LEED-certified buildings represent better buildings
and a stronger commitment to sustainability by building owners and developers. LEED

*World Clean Energy Awards [online], http://www.cleanenergyawards.com/top-navigation/nominees-projects/
nominee-detail/project/41/, accessed April 2008. Building Green [online], http://www.buildinggreen.com/auth/
article.cfm/2008/1/1/Grand-Teton-Visitor-Center-Earns-LEED-Platinum/?, accessed April 2008.
† Center for Building Performance and Diagnostics, Carnegie Mellon University. eBIDS: Energy Building
Investment Decision Support Tool, http://cbpd.arc.cmu.edu/ebids, accessed April 30, 2008.