FACT SHEET
LEED Platinum Certification /Department of Education Building

• The California Department of Education Building is the first ever state-owned office building to receive a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Platinum certification for an existing building.
  
  
• The LEED certification program is administered by the U.S. Green Building Council, the nation's foremost coalition of building industry leaders working to promote buildings that are environmentally responsible, profitable and healthy places to live and work.
  
  
• In 2003, shortly after its construction, the building was certified LEED Gold for its sustainable design and construction and has earned a U.S. EPA Energy Star rating of 95 (on a scale of one to 100) for its superior energy performance.
  
  
• Additional operations and maintenance practices including fine-tuning of energy efficiency systems enabled the building to be upgraded today to a coveted LEED Platinum certification - the highest LEED certification a building can achieve.
  
  
• Originally designed to be 30 percent more energy efficient than required by the California Building Code, the building is now approximately 40 percent more efficient than required by law. The 336,000 square foot, six-story office building houses Department of Education employees, including the office of the State Superintendent of Public Instruction.
  
  
• Several Green Building operations and maintenance practices have been implemented including the following:
  
  
  • Improving indoor environmental quality for building employees and visitors through improved ventilation, and air distribution.
  • Increasing water efficiency by reducing water in plumbing fixtures and irrigation system.
  • Using metering systems that provide evidence of lower energy use.
  • Reducing waste stream through recycling.
  • Implementing policies to purchase environmentally preferable products containing recycled content.
  • Encouraging use of alternative transportation through proximity of building to mass transit.
  • Reducing heat gain by maintaining "cool roofing" and paving materials.
  • Using green cleaning supplies and low-impact environmental pest management.
  
  
• The building features more than 100 different sustainable, "green" design solutions that improve energy efficiency, indoor air quality and use of resources.
  
  
• Sustainable features include a white roof system to deflect heat, open floor designs to maximize the use of natural light, high performance window glazing, and "smart" light controls, such as daylight and motion sensors.
  
  
• An upper floor of the building uses a solar photovoltaic system to generate electricity.
  
  
• An under-floor air distribution system eliminates overhead ductwork, improves airflow, and delivers air at a lower temperature and lower pressure. Employees have floor diffusers to control the amount of air that they receive.
  
  
• Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger's Green Building Initiative (Executive Order S-20-04) directs the state to take aggressive action to reduce electricity usage in state-owned buildings 20 percent by 2015.
  
  
• The executive order further challenges state government to demonstrate leadership by becoming a model of energy and resource efficiency at state-owned buildings, upgrading them to be more energy efficient. This includes designing, constructing and operating buildings as LEED-Silver certified buildings or better.
  
  
• The executive order requests other entities not under direct executive authority to actively participate in this effort, including: the University of California, California State University, California Community Colleges, constitutional officers, legislative and judicial branches, and the California Public Utilities Commission. The California Public Employees Retirement System and State Teachers Retirement System are requested to target resource efficient buildings in their investments.