Clinton Library Gets LEED Certification

 

Clinton's Presidential Library now offers a special "green" tour to feature its environmentally friendly construction.

The first and only presidential library to earn an award from the U.S. Green Building Council for environmental design, a “silver certification” in Leadership Energy & Environmental Design, the Clinton library on the shores of the Arkansas River started offering the “green” tours in late September for a weekend meeting of the American Solar Energy Society. But the tour proved so popular that the museum now offers it each Saturday and for groups upon request. The land was a contaminated brownfield and is now a city park. On the second floor of the library, 143,000 pounds of glass windows allow natural light to flow into the building, but too much light could also damage the library displays, so 258 double-layer panels were placed on the side of the building, outside the glass, to filter the light. The black floor is recycled rubber, most of it tires. The wooden floors are made of bamboo, a rapidly renewable product and the ceilings are recycled aluminum?EUR??,,????'??+about 75 percent is recycled aluminum soda cans. And outside there are 336 solar panels on the roof, one of the building’s energy sources. The parking lot features bicycle racks and three stations where electric cars can recharge. There are also newly planted trees, and in five years, when they’re fully grown, they will provide shade for 50 percent of the parking places.

Source: The Associated Press.