1 Old Country Road is a 276,008 square foot, 5 floor tall commercial building located in Carle Place, Long Island. The building has been in operation for over 50 years ever since it was built back in 1969. It recently underwent a change in ownership, who plan to upgrade this building into a LEED certified energy-efficient and sustainable commercial hub.

What is LEED?

Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is a nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction, and operation of high-performance green buildings. The rating system assigns points in six main categories: Site Selection, Water Efficiency, Energy & Atmosphere, Materials & Resources, Indoor Environmental Quality, and Innovation & Design Process. Buildings can earn Certified, Silver, Gold or Platinum level certification, depending on the quantity and quality of measures pursued. Buildings are responsible for an enormous amount of global energy use, resource consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. As the demand for more sustainable building options increases, green construction is becoming increasingly profitable and desirable within the international construction market.

LEED Benefits:

1. Cost Savings: Large organizations that change their interior lighting and HVAC systems to make them more energy efficient due to LEED certification usually experience a significant reduction with regards to their annual power costs. Furthermore, energy efficient structures have better value in real estate than the traditional buildings.
2. Enhances Productivity: Attaining LEED certification increases productivity since working in energy efficient atmospheres has been shown to boost employee efficiency. In fact, employees who carry out their duties in facilities and offices that have enhanced natural lighting and better air quality have a reduced absenteeism rate and retain their posts longer.
3. Provides Significant Environment Proof: Getting the LEED certification usually involves a very strict process, and it provides compelling evidence to your peers, clients as well as the public in general that you have attained the environmental goals. This certification also enables you to take advantage and use the increasing number of local and state government incentives.
4. Enhances Employee Health: Since implementing LEED strategies entail improving water and air quality in a particular building, it leads to enhanced employee comfort and health. This benefit is also reaped by every person involved in the project including designers, occupants, and the society in general.

How The New One is Becoming LEED Certified

In order to see which measures yield the highest savings, an Energy Model was conducted on the building. The energy efficient measures were simulated individually against the existing building simulation and percentage savings for each was observed and analyzed. Some of the measures being implemented are below:

• LED Lighting and Sensors : Installing LED lighting and sensors at 1OCR has reduced the LPD using building area method for the building from 1.1 W/sq.ft to 0.85 W/sq.ft. To provide further energy savings for the building, the existing LED fixtures that have high wattages will be replaced with high-efficiency fixtures with low wattages. These measures drastically reduce the area lighting consumption for the building.

• DGU Façade (Window Replacements) : The building currently has a high window coverage and it is housing single-pane windows. These windows have a U-value of 1.1 and a considerably high Solar Heat Gain Co-efficient (SHGC). Alteration of the glass to double pane windows will result in significant reductions in both cooling and heating consumption values. Double-pane windows have a lower SHGC and better insulation.

• Solar Panels: This building has a large parking garage that is currently being renovated. They are installing 2 GWh solar panels on the roof of the parking garage. These panels should be able to offset around 90% of energy for the building. Installing solar panels helps combat greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and reduces the buildings dependence on fossil fuel.

All these measures can provide savings for the building while simultaneously reducing GHG Emissions and upgrading the building into a LEED certified energy-efficient and sustainable commercial hub. Check out our “Transforming a Green Building” page to keep up with the latest updates to 1 Old Country Road and follow its evolution to becoming LEED Certified.