NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Building 4601, an engineering facility at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. Image Credit: NASA
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The U.S. Green Building Council for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design has awarded its LEED® Gold certification to Building 4601, an engineering facility at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. -- recognizing the standard of excellence set by the state-of-the-art, environmentally friendly facility.

The building, which opened in June 2009, was designed and built according to efficient energy and water principles, making it eligible for registration with the building council.

The LEED rating system offers four certification levels for new construction -- "Certified," "Silver," "Gold" and "Platinum" -- which correspond to a specified number of credits accrued in five environmentally conscious design categories: sustainable sites; water efficiency; energy and atmosphere; materials and resources; and indoor environmental quality.

Certification hinged on the environmental 'footprint' of the facility, as well as the reduced energy consumption of the building once it was completed. As an additional component of certification, Marshall was assessed on how well the land on which the property sits was used and cared for, along with health and safety qualities inside the structure: quality of air, use of natural light, noise levels and ergonomics.