The corporate office of Wellmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield, located in Des Moines, declared that it has earned the LEED Platinum certification from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC).
The building has earned the distinction of remaining the one and only building of its size to earn the LEED Platinum certification in the world. Wellmark has set an objective to trim down the managerial expenses of the building by 5% on a regular basis by the included strict energy efficiency initiatives. In a period of 10 years, the building will pay itself for the expenses.
The new LEED certified building will save over 20% on its energy spending every year. The technology utilized in the building construction harvests maximum day light, cuts down the usage of other electrical lights and reduces the heat gain within the building. The ventilation system built in the building lets a good amount of fresh air thus eliminating the need to utilize electric fans. The water conserving initiatives installed in the building reduces the consumption of water by nearly 55% thus saving nearly 2.4 million gallons of potable water. The arrangement for collecting recycled rainwater in the underground tank allows the usage of such water for flushing the toilets and irrigating the garden.
The building is constructed over a site by removing two old buildings to a new location. Around 2.5 million pounds of construction wastes was reused instead of dumping them in the landfill. The new chairs, carpets and other furniture installed in the building are either made of recyclable materials or recycled materials. The building reduced the level of its fax and copy machines usage by nearly 40% thus cutting down the usage of nearly 800 boxes of paper and 200 toner cartridges and resulting in a saving of around $200,000 every year.
Source: http://www.wellmark.com