by Brianna Crandall — May 6, 2011—The world’s largest medical technology company, Medtronic, recently achieved Green Globes Continual Improvement of Existing Buildings (CIEB) certification by the Green Building Initiative (GBI) for achievements in sustainable operations and maintenance at its World Headquarters, GBI announced recently.
The 509,483-square-foot, four-story office building, with 1,200 daily occupants, has several specialized departments including laboratory, atrium, educational center, food service and meeting spaces. Many best practices are in place at the facility from among the Green Globes categories of energy consumption, water usage, resources, emissions, IEQ, and environmental management, which gained the headquarters three Green Globes out of a possible four at the completion of the certification process.
Medtronic chose to undergo the Green Globes assessment process instead of the similar LEED (Leadership in Environmental Design) process, saying the company “found an approximate overlap of 85 percent with LEED criteria while achieving similar results…” GBI says Green Globes is delivered through an interactive, Web-enabled platform, resulting in greater ease of use and lower cost than other assessments.
