Eagles & Ravens Receive LEED Certification Just in Time for Greenbuild Conference

The US Green Building Council’s annual Greenbuild International Conference & Expo kicked off this week in Philadelphia with the announcement of two new LEED certifications for existing buildings in the sports industry. On the field at Sunday night’s game, USGBC awarded LEED Silver status to Lincoln Financial Field, home of the Philadelphia Eagles. And, in partnership with the Maryland Stadium Authority, the defending Super Bowl champion Baltimore Ravens were awarded LEED Gold status for their efforts to reduce the environmental impacts of M&T Bank Stadium.

As the foremost program for the design, construction, maintenance and operations of green buildings, USGBC’s LEED green building certification system rewards the sustainability efforts of facility operators to decrease the environmental impacts of their buildings.

“Earning LEED certification was a true team effort that required a great deal of commitment from our organization at all levels,” said Eagles President Don Smolenski about the announcement. “But what started with a blue recycling bin under each employee’s desk in 2003 has evolved into a comprehensive Go Green program that would not be possible without the innovation of our partners and participation of our fans.”

“I’m pleased to celebrate the LEED-certified Gold designation with our World Champions,” said Maryland governor Martin O’Malley about the announcement. “Working together, we’re meeting some of the most ambitious energy reduction goals in the nation, fostering innovation and job creation that will lead to a better, more sustainable future for our children.”

At Greenbuild 2013, the USGBC also launched the newest version of their LEED green building rating system, LEED v4. Building on the fundamentals of earlier versions of LEED, LEED v4 helps prepare sustainability projects to perform at a higher level and provides a suite of new time-saving support tools designed to help streamline the certification process.

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