A new LEED Platinum building in suburban Minneapolis may be the greenest single building in the state, but what about all those who must drive there? The City of Lakes blog looks at the fallacy of LEED rankings when location is not factored in.
"I recently toured the Great River Energy company headquarters in Maple Grove, MN, which is the first building in Minnesota to receive the "LEED-Platinum" classification from the U.S. Green Building Council. LEED-Platinum classification is intended to represent the highest achievement in sustainable building practices. The Great River building gets 15% of its energy from on-site wind and solar power, collects rainwater for on-site re-use, and used a multitude of recylced and locally-sourced materials in its construction. All of this is very admirable. The only problem? The building is essentially just another auto-dependent suburban office park located in a sea of congested roads, huge parking lots, and big-box chain retail stores."
Thanks to Jeff Wood
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Urban Design for Planners 1: Software Tools
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