Starbucks and LEED Unite
Starbucks opens its first LEED registered store in Canada.
This is very cool news. If you haven’t heard of LEED, it’s an acronym for Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design. It’s an internationally recognized green building certification system, providing third-party verification that a building or community was designed and built using strategies aimed at saving energy, water efficiency, reducing CO2 emissions, improving indoor environmental quality and providing stewardship of resources so that they’re used in a way that’s sensitive to their potential impact on the environment.
Kudos to Starbucks for making this commitment. Building a LEED registered property is by no means the cheap. There are some inherent expenses that many companies would rather just not have to take on. True, you might have to fork over a few more dollars for that java fix to pay for the privilege of being environmentally responsible. But, I still find the effort commendable.
The new store, located at the corner of Bathurst and St. Clair, has been build with added design and construction elements. It features:
• tables and seating made from reclaimed materials such as bowling lanes from a Scarborough bowling alley
• siding, cladding and wainscoting made from a locally-sourced fallen barn
• LED and low-voltage lighting
• variable flush toilets and metered water fixtures
• paints and solvents that are low VOC
• reduced reliance on construction materials due to exposed surfaces, polished and densified concrete floors
If the pilot is successful, Starbucks aims to achieve LEED certification for all new company-owned stores worldwide by late 2010. Drop in and see what you think.