HQ LEED Certification

Great River Energy is pursuing LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) platinum certification for its new headquarters in Maple Grove. The LEED Green Building Rating System is a voluntary national standard for developing high-performance, sustainable buildings that rely on on-site renewable energy resources.

As an electric utility, Great River Energy is aware of its role in protecting the environment while providing the reliable and affordable electricity required to maintain our economy.

“We are seeking LEED certification as a way to measurably demonstrate our commitment to the environment and sustainability. Our plan is to showcase our new headquarters energy efficiency measures,” says Gary Connett, Great River Energy’s manager, member services. “The building will use strategies and technologies that our member cooperatives and their customers can apply to their own projects.”

The building will feature the latest in energy efficient technology, including a geothermal heating and cooling system combined with under floor displacement ventilation resulting in a ‘low-energy’ design for the HVAC system.
Extensive use of daylight will provide working light. Dimming ballasts and daylight sensors will reduce the level of artificial lighting and its associated cooling loads required. (For commercial office buildings, lighting typically accounts for 20 percent to 30 percent of the operating energy).
High efficiency low-E coated glazings will be used throughout the facility.
Offices and conference rooms will be equipped with motions sensors. Artificial lighting will be high efficiency fluorescent lighting.
The building will be oriented with the long axis running east and west. Window areas on the east and west will be kept to minimum to reducing solar heat gain from the west.
Our new headquarters will use the ash produced at our power plants in the building and finishing materials. For example, the backing for carpet tiles will be made from fly ash – fly ash is the lightweight, fine ash produced when coal is burned in power plants. The building’s structural frame will be constructed using 40 percent to 60 percent fly ash -- as a replacement for Portland cement.
The building will feature on-site renewable energy sources, such as solar panels and a wind turbine.
The facility will have a number of sustainable features such as rain gardens and native plantings and vegetation.

“Although many of these features will cost more to install than less efficient options, they’ll more than pay for themselves in a few years,” Connett adds. “It’s much less expensive for Great River Energy to promote energy efficiency measures than for us to build a power plant. We expect our new headquarters will be a showcase of energy efficiency technology. It’s another first step toward our goal of helping our member co-op customers be more efficient energy users.”