by Shane Henson — October 17, 2012—Earth Rangers, a conservation organization for children, has been awarded Platinum certification from the Canada Green Building Council through its Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) for Existing Buildings rating system for The Earth Rangers Centre for Sustainable Technology, located in Woodbridge, Ontario.
LEED is a third-party certification program and an internationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction and operation of high-performance green buildings. As an internationally recognized mark of excellence, LEED provides building owners and operators the tools they need to have an immediate and measurable impact on their buildings’ performance.
The Earth Rangers Centre, which was awarded LEED Gold for New Construction in 2004, is home to Earth Rangers’ Animal Ambassadors and staff and is also a showcase for leading-edge sustainable building technologies that reduce energy, water and resource consumption.
Achieving a score of 92 of a possible 110 points in the rating system, The Earth Rangers Centre is currently the highest-scoring LEED EB building in Canada. The building features technologies such as:
- Solar photovoltaic generation
- On-site wastewater treatment
- Earth tubes
- Solar hot water
- Stormwater control
- Geothermal heating and cooling
- Vegetated green roofs
Notable metrics attained by the building that helped it earn LEED Platinum include:
- Energy consumption 83% below energy code baseline
- Approximately 130,000 kWh of annual solar energy generation (enough to power 12 average Canadian homes for a year)
- Approximately 1.5 million liters of water recycled in 2011
- Approximately 100% of power supplied comes from renewables or low-impact hydroelectric generation sources
- Approximately 100% of all cleaning products meet green cleaning standards
- Native and drought hardy landscaping that needs no irrigation and uses no pesticides
- An extensive preventative maintenance program that includes infrared scanning of building components
- An online commuting alternative program for staff and tenants
- Approximately 80% diversion of waste from landfill
“We are extremely honored to receive LEED Platinum certification for the Earth Rangers Centre,” says Peter Kendall, executive director of Earth Rangers. “This achievement would not have been possible without the incredible support of our partners and sponsors; who like us, believe in the importance of protecting biodiversity for our future generations. We are proud to share this certification with them.”
