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A Downtown Columbia Hotel LEEDS the way to Energy Efficiency

Gary Grigsby
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KBIA

You may have heard about LEED certified buildings. The non-profit U.S. Green Building Council developed the nationally accepted LEED benchmark for the design, construction and operation of green buildings.  It's a complex system where the owner of a building gets points toward LEED certification by incorporating sustainable practices into just about every aspect of the construction process.  

A number of public buildings in Columbia are LEED certified.  City Hall for example. 

But very few private buildings are LEED certified.  The largest in Columbia is the Broadway Hotel downtown.  It's been open about a year and recently became LEED certified.  But nothing about being in the hotel jumps out at you to say this is a LEED certified hotel. 

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KBIA

But it's there, all around you.  General Manager Bob McDonald said it was easier to meet LEED standards with new construction rather than than remodeling an existing building.  "It's much more advantageous to do it then because you can put all those pieces in place from a structural standpoint," he said.  "A lot of the LEED certified things that you're going to work with a property are all based in the construction process."  Things that you would expect in a green building like energy efficient windows.  McDonald said, "we have to jump through so many more hoops with getting LEED certified."  McDonald said those hoops include things you would never think of.  "Concrete emits gases and things like that, throughout what you are doing, the mix you are using.  And it's the type of chemicals and stuff that you are using which are more green, effectively green."  In effect, less toxic concrete.  Things like that earn you points toward LEED certification.

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KBIA
Energy efficient washers and dryers in the hotel are part of the effort to be more sustainable.

More efficient systems also earn points.  Take the lighting.  "It's all set on timers," McDonald said.  "Different levels throughout the hotel.  And then it switches from day to evening to non-use.  No one has to turn a switch, basically efficient enough to work itself."  Efficient enough to work itself and McDonald said to pay for itself in the long run.

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KBIA

LED lighting is in much of the hotel.   Technician Ralph Green said it is 90% more efficient than incandescent lighting.  Green was involved in much of the day-to-day planning in regard to getting LEED certification for The Broadway. 

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KBIA

Like putting in a very efficient air conditioning system.  "The initial expense is more in comparison to a traditional refrigeration system," Green said. "But you're talking about at least a 35% greater savings."

The heat pump on the roof is also part of a system expected to save that much or more.  And instead of pumping the used heated air outside the building like a traditional system, this one re-uses some of it, re-circulating it back through the system to areas that need heat.

McDonald says that in addition to savings from energy efficiency, there are also public relations and tax benefits from being LEED certified.