July 30, 2008 - Pat O'Dea, Peet's Coffee & Tea President & CEO
Today we gathered to celebrate the LEED® Gold Certification of our artisan roasting facility. On hand were David Gottfried, founder and first president of the U.S. Green Building Council, the Mayor and other officials from the City of Alameda, and our partners who worked with us to bring our building to life. Together, we recognized this great accomplishment and unveiled our LEED Gold plaque which is now on permanent display at the main entrance.
This achievement encapsulates a three-year journey that started with our decision to build a new roasting facility from the ground up. Our vision is to be the gold standard specialty coffee and tea brand available to world. And one of our most important values is to positively contribute to the communities and environment where we operate locally and globally. This led us to take a LEED-certified approach to the design and construction of our roasting facility. As a result, the roasting facility is truly a physical manifestation of our vision and our values.
The U.S. Green Building Council recognized our effort to live our values in the building of the facility by awarding us the Gold Level LEED Certification., This makes our roasting plant the first LEED Gold certified commercial building in the city of Alameda and the very first LEED certified coffee roasting facility in the United States.
What is LEED?
LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Green Building Rating System™ is a feature-oriented rating system that awards buildings points for satisfying specified green building criteria. The six major environmental categories of review include: Sustainable Sites, Water Efficiency, Energy and Atmosphere, Materials and Resources, Indoor Environmental Quality and Innovation and Design. Certified, Silver, Gold, and Platinum levels of LEED green building certification are awarded based on the total number of points earned within each LEED category. LEED can be applied to all building types including new construction, commercial interiors, core & shell developments, existing buildings, homes, neighborhood developments, schools and retail facilities.
Why is this important?
Buildings in the U.S. use 40% of U.S. energy which means 10% of global energy. There is a huge opportunity to curb the path of environmental degradation significantly by changing the way we build and operate buildings. In addition, it is simply "smart" design that saves money, energy, water, waste and makes for a nice work environment.
Since many people, including builders and architects, have a limited understanding of what sustainable design and construction means, the LEED system provides a common platform for everyone. Having well known, respected companies like Peet’s involved with LEED is paramount to showing the public that green can be accomplished economically – even in a roasting facility!
Below are just some of the areas where points were achieved resulting in our Gold Certification:
- Dedicated parking for low emissions vehicles and car pools
- Located close to mass transit – Ferry, Bart, AC Transit bus shuttle bus
- Bike racks, showers and locker rooms for Peetniks
- 100% storm water runoff thru bio-swales and not directly into storm sewers or the bay
- Water efficient landscaping using 87% less water than base case
- Used recycled materials in landscape including mulch, cocoa husks, coffee chaff and bark
- 40% less water use in plant using low flow shower and faucet heads, dual flush toilets and waterless urinals
- Over 20% of materials used in construction from local and regional sources
- Diverted over 75% of construction waste from landfill; Most of the form lumber was reused from previous jobs or reused on subsequent jobs
- Energy efficient lighting and controls saving 40% energy vs. traditional lighting
- Total energy savings beat California Title 24 by 32%
- Use of sky lights and side lighting for natural light
- Utilized heat exchanger technology to recover and reuse heat generated in roasting process resulting in 40% less natural gas used. We are the only roasting plant in North America with this technology
- Carpet, paint, office furniture used in office areas were low/no emitting VOC LEED approved materials
- High efficiency HVAC systems and latest refrigerant technology for energy efficiency and to minimize environmental impact
Our roasting facility is an expression of our vision, mission and values. It has been designed to produce the highest quality coffee and teas in the world, and do so in away that positively contributes to the local community. We are honored to receive this extraordinary recognition from the U.S. Green Building Council, and to be the only LEED certified Gold roasting facility in the U.S. This is something our entire Peet’s family of employees and customers can take great pride in.
Last but not least, this project would not have been possible without the dedication and tireless leadership of Jim Grimes, our vice president operations and his team, including Bob Pires, and Raymond Sohnlein. We are also eternally grateful to all of the people and organizations that came together with us in a team effort to make this possible:
- SRM Associates
- FME Architecture & Design
- JM O'Neill Construction
- April Phillips Design Works
- SEI Structural Engineers
- Kier & Wright
- Ibsen/Sentry Architecture & Design
- KEMA Green
- City and County of Alameda
- PG&E
Pat O’Dea
To learn more about LEED, visit www.usgbc.org/LEED
Take our artisan roastery tour. Visit http://tour.peets.com
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