Saint-Gobain’s 320,000-square-foot facility, located in Faribault, Minnesota, has achieved Gold certification under the United States Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system, the company announced on June 24.
The plant is the largest electrochromic glazing facility in the world, capable of annually producing several million square feet of dynamic glass.
The high-volume facility, which opened in late 2012, has been producing SageGlass for a number of high-visibility projects including the General Services Administration headquarters in Washington, D.C., the U.S. Naval Academy’s retrofit of historical McDonough Hall.
The facility construction process earned points for diverting 50% of construction materials from landfills, use of recycled and regionally sourced materials, among other measures.
The LEED rating system tracks a variety of sustainability metrics in the design, construction, operation and maintenance of a building. The SageGlass facility earned LEED points toward Gold certification for, among other features, its efficient use of water, limiting of light pollution, and attention to indoor environmental quality including abundant use of daylighting and access to outside views for occupants.