As a restaurant owner, how important is it for you to be “green?” Some restaurants go green by using smart packaging, saving water, recycling, and even do in-house composting. Others think big and seek LEED certification for their entire location. But what exactly is LEED? This very trending topic speaks volumes to the green movement because LEED certified restaurant buildings undergo rigorous requirements to achieve this status.
LEED is the acronym that stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design – a project or building that uses environmentally friendly building practices like using recycled materials, sustainable green building material and reducing amount of waste. In short, the LEED certification system aims to encourage building projects that help our environment. There are four levels of LEED standards which are Certified, Gold, Silver and Platinum. We recently took a trip to Platinum LEED certified restaurant, Claire’s on Cedros in Solana Beach. They are without a doubt the standard for LEED certified restaurants. In the building process for Claire’s, careful enviromental strategies were taken place to implement energy and water efficiency.
A quick rundown of the just some of features of Claire’s green building:
– Parking: priority spaces are given to eco-friendly cars and carpoolers. – Green roof: their vegetated roofs, “have minimal irrigation needs. During rainstorms they absorb rain reducing the amount of stormwater running off the site.”
– Renewable energy: Claire’s boast 54 photovoltaic panels on site
– Appliances: only Energy Star efficient appliances are used – Interior: nearly all the interior finishes are made from reclaimed or recycled content
– Insulation: Creatively uses blue jeans in the walls and ceilings for insulation.
– Heating: hydronic floor heating is used to heat the commercial space
– And much more!
Although it is quite an undertaking to become a LEED certified restaurant, the environmental payoff is huge. Synergy’s expert design team can meet much of the challenge that comes with LEED certification. Our goal has always been not only to design amazing functional restaurants that are warm and comfortable but also design restaurants that are environmentally sound.