UConn has raised its minimum LEED standard for all of its future building projects to gold from silver, a move the state’s flagship university says will help achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.
UConn said its board of trustees approved elevating its LEED minimum standard after requiring LEED silver minimums since 2007, one of the first colleges in the nation to do so.Â
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design is a nationally accepted independent certification for design, operation, and construction of high-performance environmentally friendly, or “green,’’ buildings.
A university spokesperson said the school couldn’t estimate what, if any impact, the new standards will have on construction costs because of the different specifications. However, the trustees approved, he said, an escape clause that allows the standards to be waived if compliance would be too costly.
UConn’s early adoption of the criteria was a factor in 2012, when the Sierra Club ranked the University top among the nation’s greenest colleges and universities.
Since UConn took that step in 2007, the university has registered or certified 34 LEED projects totaling more than 3.3 million square feet. Those LEED-certified buildings have realized measurable energy and water savings, with lower operating and maintenance costs and increased productivity, according to Scott Jordan, executive vice president for administration and CFO.
Among the projects, four – Laurel Hall, Oak Hall, McMahon Dining Hall, and UConn Health’s Research Tower – achieved LEED Gold certification. Two additional registered projects, the new Student Recreation Center and Gant Complex renovations, are also on track to meet that standard, UConn said.
