The business headquarters building of American Electric Power in Columbus, Ohio, has earned the LEED Gold certification for the existing Buildings. AEP received the first LEED certification in the existing building category.
AEP Headquarters Building
The company has taken steps to eliminate waste and employ the resources cautiously to create a secure and healthy environment for the personnel. So, it is constructing new facilities to meet the LEED standards and operating the facilities to integrate sustainability norms for improving the existing buildings. Now, AEP facilities are operating with less than 15% of the energy than that used in 2007, all through its 11-state service territory. The company has been doing some commercial alterations in the existing building in order to achieve this LEED certificate.
The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) will award LEED certification for the existing building based on the sustainable purchasing strategies, present interior environmental quality and outdoor building maintenance programs, environmentally ideal products use, water and energy use, waste stream management and practices for alterations and cleaning. The alterations done in the AEP's headquarters has reduced 17% of the yearly energy use.
A service center in Decatur, Ind, Transmission Operations Center in New Albany, Ohio, a service center in Marietta, Ohio and a service center in Rogers, Ark are the four other buildings of AEP that are LEED certified for recent construction. This 31-story AEP headquarters building was constructed in 1983 and received U.S. EPA's ENERGY STAR certification in 2010.
Source: http://www.aep.com/