Published on 5 Mar 2015Written by Christopher Gray Posted in LEED
2014’s Top 10 States have shown tremendous leadership in the green building movement by certifying 1,662 commercial and institutional projects representing 251.7 million square feet of real estate. These buildings will have a tremendous social impact over the coming years by providing healthy and environmentally sustainable spaces to produce new breakthroughs in many different fields of science, medicine, education, business, the fine arts and environmental and social justice.
Every state, beginning with Illinois, 2014’s first overall state for LEED green building, will have a different highly impactful project profiled that touches on one of these core areas and demonstrates how business, universities, faith communities and non-profit organizations across the country are using LEED.
Virginia has a demonstrated history of support for green building, and it has made the Top 10 every year since 2011. In 2014, Virginia placed fourth in the nation for LEED (2.33 square-feet of certified space per resident), with 170 projects certifying across the state. The University of Mary Washington’s new IT Convergence Center is an impressive 77,000 square-foot facility designed to produce innovative opportunities for social collaboration and research
Projects like Mary Washington’s IT Convergence Center demonstrate how LEED is helping grow our economy through providing healthy, high-tech learning spaces where young people can be creative, learn about new technologies and gain the experience necessary to make an impact in the world once they leave school.
It is also worth noting that Virginia has historically been a leader in promoting green learning spaces in its public schools and universities. There were more than 20 different educational projects that certified across the state in 2014.
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