Volkswagen ‘Greened’ its Chattanooga Assembly Plant
A recent visit to CASTEXPO 2013 in St. Louis encouraged us to investigate what it would take to make a foundry LEED Platinum. A VW ad on 60 Minutes gave us the inspiration.
From the VW press release, “Volkswagen’s Chattanooga manufacturing plant has received a platinum certification from the U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC) Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED®) green building certification program. The facility is the first and only automotive manufacturing plant in the world to receive the Platinum certification.”
With planning and a corporate education plan, high levels of Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) can be achieved. LEED was created by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) in 1993 to encourage sustainable building practices. The USGBC is a non-governmental organization. It has become accepted as the sustainable building certification standard by the U.S. Government. All government buildings are required to be LEED Certified. LEED is based on a 100-credit system and broken up into five categories: Sustainable Sites, Water Efficiency, Energy and Atmosphere, Materials and Resources, and Indoor Environment Quality.