Maryville, TN – Clayton Homes announced today is has been awarded LEED certification, established by the U.S. Green Building Council and verified by the Green Building Certification Institute. LEED is the nation’s preeminent program for the design, construction, and operation of high performance green building. President and CEO of Clayton Homes, Kevin Clayton says, “We are very honored to have received this certification, but even more excited about reducing our impact on the environment. That’s something our team members here at Clayton Homes can be proud of when they come to work every day.”
Today’s certification makes Clayton Homes only the 4th LEED-certified building in the state of Tennessee, and the 14th in the Southeast. Clayton Homes achieved LEED certification for its existing headquarters by maximizing operational efficiency, while minimizing environmental impacts. “We use LEED standards as a road map to sustainability.” says Jason Langston, Clayton Homes’ LEED project coordinator. “Some great examples include our onsite restaurant offering healthy choices called “The Greenway” as well as other environmental and healthy amenities. The result: team member do not have to leave the facility resulting in less environmental impact and healthier people.”
“Clayton Homes’ LEED certification demonstrates tremendous green building leadership,” says Rick Fedrizzi, President, CEO and Founding Chair of USGBC.
Fedrizzi is pleased the Berkshire-Hathaway company is sharing some of its best practices in its Home Building Facilities and Model Home Centers around the country. “Sustainability is something we’ve been interested in for years now, and we are using some of these same principals in the homes that we build for our customers,” says Clayton. Clayton Homes is the nation’s largest home builder, with more than 1.5 million homes built.
The Clayton i-house
Earlier this year, Clayton Homes unveiled the Energy Star™ rated i-house, featuring solar panels, a rain water catchment system, high-end “low e” windows, a tankless water heater, low-flow faucets, and easily renewable bamboo flooring. Clayton Homes was also recognized by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Systems Building Research Alliance and the Manufactured Housing Institute with five 2009 ENERGY STAR® Leadership in Housing Awards.
Clayton Homes is in good company with other LEED-ED Certified headquarters around the country, including McDonald’s World Headquarters in Illinois, Starbucks Center in Washington and the MGM Tower in California. “The green building movement offers an unprecedented opportunity to respond to the most important challenges of our time, including global climate change, dependence on non-sustainable and expensive sources of energy and threats to human health,” says Fedrizzi.
LEED certification of Clayton Homes was based on a number of green design and construction features that positively impact the project itself and the broader community. These features include:
- Achieved 50% in water savings
- Achieved overall 33% in real energy savings
- Recycling 53% of waste stream.
- Purchasing 60% of materials that include at least 10% post consumer content a sustainable and economical practice
- Optimizing the building indoor air quality, through measuring and balancing outside air intake
- Establishing metrics for the impact that our on-site GreenWay restaurant, exercise facility, outdoor amenities and GreenWay-to-Go programs have had on the reduction of carbon emissions from the availability of these enhancements
- Offering recycling containers for TM’s to bring in their home recyclables. We have established metrics that account reductions in carbon emissions by offering this benefit
- Changing to eco-safe cleaning materials and cleaning equipment
- Produced a complete operations manual (S.O.P.) based on our existing culture of being proactive in all building systems
- Developed plan for complete site erosion and sedimentation control and complete site maintenance. 202 acres are currently under the GreenBelt Tax designation with 60 acres designated for hay
According to the USGBC, an initial sampling of other LEED-EB certified buildings found that an average return on investment is 2.6 years and annual net savings totaling more than $170,000. “While the ROI is meaningful, the real reward is in making a difference; no matter how big or small the changes, the more we can make a positive impact on our planet, the better,” says Clayton.
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Clayton Homes
A Berkshire-Hathaway Company, Clayton Homes is a national, vertically integrated housing company. Through its family of brands, Clayton Homes builds, sells, finances, leases, and insures a full spectrum of affordable housing and is the nation’s in housing. Visit Clayton Homes at www.claytonhomes.com.
U.S. Green Building Council
The Washington D.C.-based U.S. Green Building Council is committed to a prosperous and sustainable future for our nation through cost-efficient and energy-saving green buildings.
With a community comprising 78 local affiliates, more than 20,000 member companies and organizations, and more than 100,000 LEED Accredited Professionals, USGBA is the driving force of an industry that is projected to soar to $60 billion by 2010. The USGBC leads an unlikely diverse constituency of builders and environmentalists, corporations and nonprofit organizations, elected officials and concerned citizens, and teachers and students.
Buildings in the United States are responsible for 39% of CO2 emissions, 40% of energy consumption, 13% water consumption and 15% of GDP per year, making green building a source of significant economic and environmental opportunity. Greater building efficiency can meet 85% of future U.S. demand for energy, and a national commitment to green building has the potential to generate 2.5 million American jobs.
LEED
The U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED green building certification system is the foremost program for the design, construction and operation of green buildings. The U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED rating system is the preeminent program for the design, construction and operation of green buildings. 35,000 projects are currently participating in the LEED system, comprising over 5.6 billion square feet of construction space in all 50 states and 91 countries.
By using less energy, LEED-certified buildings save money for families, businesses and taxpayers; reduce greenhouse gas emissions; and contribute to a healthier environment for residents, workers and the larger community.
USGBC was co-founded by current President and CEO Rick Fedrizzi, who spent 25 years as a Fortune 500 executive. Under his 15-year leadership, the organization has become preeminent green building, membership, policy, standards, influential, education and research organization in the nation.
“We have athletes who travel from Chattanooga, Crossville and the Bristol area to train here at Cherokee Baseball and Softball Academy,” said 
“There’s no other program in East Tennessee that rivals what we do here at Cherokee Academy,” Fekete-Bailey said. “With the involvement of Baseball, LLC, we’ll have access to more resources and be able to do even more for the athletes we train. It’s exciting to see how this will benefit Cherokee Athletic and Cherokee Baseball and Softball Academy and the athletes we serve.”