Chattanooga Airport Dedicates LEED Certified Facilities and Solar Farm
March 22nd, 2012
In late February we celebrated a monumental accomplishment for our airport. The new energy-efficient corporate flight center managed by Wilson Air Center was recently awarded platinum LEED certification from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), which is the highest level of certification a building can receive. Additionally, this facility is the only one of its kind in the world to achieve platinum certification.
If you are not familiar with LEED certification, it stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design and is an 
internationally recognized green building rating system which provides building owners and operators a standard for designing and constructing the world’s greenest, most energy efficient and high-performing facilities. There are four levels of certification a building can receive and they are LEED certified, LEED silver, LEED gold and LEED platinum. Some of the criteria that led to our platinum achievement included:
- Almost 4,000 solar panels were installed just south of the terminal, generating more than one megawatt of clean power every year
- 95 percent of all construction waste was recycled
- Furniture in the facility was provided by regional suppliers which limited the pollution required to transport the materials
- Alternative transportation is encouraged and easily accessible with direct access to CARTA, bike storage and changing rooms, and reserved parking for low emissions and fuel efficient vehicles
- Landscaping throughout the campus is comprised of indigenous plants requiring very little water for hydration
The new hangar located beside the terminal achieved gold certification which was an amazing achievement for us in our efforts to promote sustainability and environmental awareness.
We made this announcement and dedicated our new solar farm with a special event inside the flight center. We were honored to have the Acting Administrator for the FAA, Michael Huerta, as a special guest and speaker, as well as Judith Webb, Vice President of Marketing and Communications for the USGBC, also a speaker at our event. Additionally we had many regional businesspeople in attendance that support sustainability initiatives, which was a great reminder that the Chattanooga community has truly become a leader in the green movement.
Read more about our sustainability efforts here.
Posted by Sarah Stephens
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