Palo Alto Weekly Building Earns LEED Gold Certification

october 8, 2010  06:17 pm
Palo Alto Weekly Building Earns LEED Gold Certification
The building that houses Palo Alto Weekly has earned LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Gold-level certification by the U.S. Green Building Council and will be hosting an open house this Sunday, allowing the general public to tour the facilities.

Some of the building's features include:
In addition to using the most efficient heating and air conditioning on the market, the building has eight different climate zones, uses motion detectors for lighting and is designed to maximize passive solar heating in the winter. Carbon-dioxide sensors constantly measure the quality of the air and when the air is stale automatically signal the heating and air-conditioning system to bring in and circulate fresh air from the outside.

The building features an open office space plan that allows natural light from expansive windows to reach almost every employee.

An underground Roman drain system diverts all surface and roof rain water away from the city's storm drain system into an underground gravel-filled reservoir and is absorbed into the aquifer.