Houston - The Houston Rockets and Toyota Center have earned LEED Silver Certification for Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), which was announced today by the organization. Toyota Center becomes the first professional sports facility in Texas to receive a LEED Certification and joins Portland’s Rose Garden, Miami’s AmericanAirlines Arena and Atlanta’s Philips Arena as the only NBA venues to receive any sort of certification.

The Silver Certification ranks second only to the Gold Certification achieved by Portland earlier this year. The certification, awarded by the USGBC under its Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program, identifies and rewards best practices by a building in areas that include energy, environment, water efficiency and natural resource performance.

“In keeping with Leslie Alexander’s vision of environmental responsibility, we have dedicated many resources over the past few years to gain certification within the LEED-EB: O&M program with regards to sustainability and operational efficiency,” said Rockets and Clutch City Sports & Entertainment CEO Tad Brown. “This certification serves as validation that our aggressive approach to energy management, recycling and waste reduction programs have made a difference here at Toyota Center and in our community. Toyota Center has a unique opportunity to serve as an industry leader in the future of sustainability. We are operating in a more environmentally conscious manner and educating the millions of patrons that attend Toyota Center events each year regarding ways they can help.”

Through the LEED green building certification program, the U.S. Green Building Council is transforming the built environment. The green building movement offers an unprecedented opportunity to respond to the most important challenges of our time, including energy conservation and environmental impact on the broader community. For Toyota Center, some of the performance standards achieved include:

A 50% reduction of landscape watering requirements.

Optimization of energy performance by reducing consumption levels to gain energy-star recognition.

Increased indoor air quality by exceeding the most stringent standards set by ASHRAE.

Introduction of a high-performance green cleaning program.

Attaining innovation points through efforts such as Green Committee projects, Green Games, community outreach efforts and e-cycling events.

“Through our efforts with Green Games, aggressive recycling, public outreach initiatives featuring Rockets players, environmental support efforts, and many other programs, we are providing a significant educational support mechanism to our community and fans alike,” added Brown. “Our organization takes great pride in being recognized as one of the country’s leading innovators of green practices among sporting and entertainment venues.”

About U.S. Green Building Council

U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) is a nonprofit membership organization with a vision to transform the way buildings and communities are designed, built and operated, enabling an environmentally and socially responsible, healthy and prosperous environment that improves the quality of life. With a community comprised of 78 local affiliates, more than 18,000 member companies and organizations, and more than 140,000 LEED Professional Credential holders, USGBC is committed to a prosperous and sustainable future for our nation through cost-efficient and energy-saving green buildings.

About LEED

LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Green Building Rating System™ is a third-party certification program and the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings. LEED provides building owners and operators with the tools they need to have an immediate and measurable impact on their building’s performance. Developed by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), LEED can be applied to any building type and at any building lifecycle phase. It promotes a whole-building approach to sustainability by recognizing performance in key areas: Sustainable Sites, Water Efficiency, Energy & Atmosphere, Materials & Resources, Indoor Environmental Quality, Locations & Linkages, Awareness & Education, Innovation in Design, and Regional Priority. Certified Silver, Gold and Platinum levels of LEED green building certification are awarded based on the total number of points earned within each LEED category, with credits being weighted to reflect their potential environmental impacts. Visit www.usgbc.org/LEED for more information.

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Source: nba.com