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CenturyLink Technology Center of Excellence achieves Silver LEED certification


WEBWIRE

The CenturyLink Technology Center of Excellence in Monroe, Louisiana, has achieved Silver LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification. LEED is a rating system devised by the United States Green Building Council to evaluate the environmental performance of a building and encourage sustainable design.

The 300,000-square-foot facility, which opened in March 2015, incorporates unique design strategies to allow the building to perform efficiently as well as improve the indoor environmental quality for employees.

Key Sustainability Features

  • Green roof is a mixture of 28 varieties of slow growing vegetation that bloom throughout the year.
  • Tankless point-of-source hot water heating in restrooms and break rooms.
  • “Smart Building” – controls for mechanical and electrical systems, lighting, View Dynamic Glass intelligent windows, audio visual, security, UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply) and generator backup systems. Lighting sensors throughout the building allow the lights to automatically turn off when not in use.  All of these Smart Building tools help control overall energy and operating costs.
  • Carpet and work-area furniture are 100 percent recyclable.
  • The building is located in a mature pecan orchard; therefore, it was a priority for the design to minimize the removal of these mature trees. The 80 trees that were removed were milled locally, yielding 20,000 square feet of lumber. This lumber was used for veneer paneling and flooring as well as solid material for coffee bar countertops throughout the facility. The landscape design for the campus included planting a new tree for each tree removed.


The building incorporates 37,000 square feet of View Dynamic Glass, making this facility one of the largest installations of electrochromic glass in the country. View’s glass leverages nanotechnology and pre-programmed intelligence to tint automatically in response to outside conditions and user preferences, eliminating the need for blinds or shades, as well as providing enhanced occupant experience and improved energy efficiency. Use of electrochromic glazing has been shown to reduce lighting, heating, and cooling loads in typical buildings by 20 percent or more.

CenturyLink set an ambitious goal for the roof design with no roof-mounted mechanical equipment. All of the typical rooftop equipment is located in a separate mechanical building. This equipment includes all back-up generators, chillers and cooling towers. The result is a pristine roof surface finished with vegetated trays (lower roof) and a white membrane (upper roof). These roof surfaces, which are visible from the adjacent headquarters facility, provide a striking visual appearance and introduce the sustainable features of the two materials.

Each floor of the Technology Center has dedicated storage areas for recycling glass, plastic, metal and paper.  

CenturyLink’s lighting design has optimized energy performance by 20 percent over the current energy code. High performance luminaries and daylight harvesting contribute to reduction in energy use goals. Building occupants have control of their environment via low voltage controls within the space as well as task lighting.

CenturyLink Environmental Stewardship

In summary, the Technology Center is an example of the choices the company makes to lessen its impact on the environment and ensure employee safety by establishing sustainability initiatives and by implementing an effective environmental health and safety management program. The company also offers customers solutions that enable them to lessen their impact on the environment.

CenturyLink strives to ensure the long-term health of the environment, employee safety, and to join with consumers and businesses to focus on ways to promote and practice intelligent use of resources.

For more information on CenturyLink’s commitment to environmental stewardship and community investments, please review our 2015 CSR Report


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