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Green Buildings
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- Goal:
- All new County government buildings over 10,000 square feet are designed and constructed to achieve a minimum of LEED Silver.
- Progress:
- Achieved! The County has built eight LEED Silver and 13 LEED Gold buildings since 2012.
About Montgomery County’s Green Buildings
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Accounting for 41% of greenhouse gas emissions with energy use for heating, cooling and lighting, buildings provide an enormous opportunity to conserve resources and protect our environment. The County’s Department of General Services, Division of Building Design and Construction, builds and retrofits many buildings each year. The County designs new buildings to achieve a minimum Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification of Silver, with many buildings achieving a LEED Gold rating. Since 2012, the County has built 13 LEED Gold building and eight LEED Silver buildings. We also continuously seek opportunities to improve energy efficiency and water conservation in older buildings.
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The County’s sustainable building method delivers buildings that reduce greenhouse gas emissions, provide healthy work environments, and meet the needs of our community. These sustainable aspects of the development process encompass:
- efficient management of energy and water resources,
- management of material resources and waste,
- protection of environmental quality,
- protection of health and indoor environmental quality,
- reinforcement of natural systems, and integrating the design approach.
Montgomery County incorporates a number of unique design elements to minimize environmental impacts of buildings. These often include:
Featured Buildings
White Oak Community Center
Geothermal heating and cooling saves energy by harnessing the constant 55-degree temperature underground, green vegetative roofs and porous pavement reduces flooding and pollution to nearby streams, and large windows provide natural light. Find out more about the center and its public programs and activities.
Equipment Maintenance and Transit Operations Center
Four acres of green roof maximizes on-site rain water treatment. The facility also includes an impressive water recycling system that allows for re-use of 80% of the water used to wash buses – conserving water and saving money. Solar panels and solar lighting on the parking garage round out the facility’s green features. Watch a behind-the-scenes tour about the building.
North Potomac Recreation Center
This facility makes fantastic use of natural light with windows and skylights throughout all of the meeting rooms, social halls, hallways, gyms, and art studios. Highly efficient LED fixtures provide additional lighting when needed. The building also features extensive green roofs and rain gardens, a highly efficient heating, air conditioning, and ventilation system and the use of state-of-the-art healthy and safe materials for playgrounds and fields.