JPMorgan Chase has earned LEED Platinum for the renovation of the 50-year-old building that houses its global headquarters in Manhattan, and the company says that it is the world’s largest renovation project to achieve platinum status. Features of the building include a 54,000 gallon tank in the cellar to collect rainwater for toilets and irrigation, which saves one million gallons of water a year, green roofs, and 266 bicycle racks.
The new RagingWire Data Center in Sacramento, Calif., has earned LEED Gold status for its use of recycled and reused materials during the construction process, greater efficiency in energy, lighting and water use, and an optimized capacity design for the highest levels of reliability and redundancy, the company said.
Wireless transmission provider Aviat Networks has earned LEED Gold certification for its new 128,000-square-foot corporate facility in Santa Clara, Calif. Features of the building include 40 percent water-use reduction in restrooms, cool roofing, low-emission paints and sustainable interior materials, installation of Energy Star office equipment and use of green power for the building’s power demands, the company said.
The EPA, the USDA, and the state of Minnesota have developed a new, state program for farmers designed to increase the voluntary adoption of conservation practices that reduce fertilizer run-off and soil erosion and protect local waters. USDA and EPA will offer support to the state in developing its certainty process for water quality improvements on private agricultural lands and eligible tribal lands in high priority watersheds, the USDA said.
Gates Corp. has earned EPA certification for its Barricade fuel injection hose and carburation hose, following a review of test data by the EPA’s engine and vehicle compliance information system (Verify). The hose was developed to withstand aggressive fuel blends and reduce fuel permeation. The Barricade hose is also certified by the State of California Air Resources Board (CARB), the company said.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has asked the nation’s telecom companies to look to green-certified products, and aim for a 17-percent reduction from 2011 levels in carbon emission from their telecom networks by 2019. The guidelines also suggest that at least 75 percent of all rural towers and 33 percent of the urban towers are powered by hybrid power by 2020, writes NDTV Profit.
The U.K.’s Department of Business Innovation and Skills (BIS) is arranging a series of informative seminars with Farnell online learning centers to help users and producers of electrical and electronic equipment understand and comply with the RoHS recast and the expected WEEE recast (RoHS 2 and WEEE 2), writes Electronics Weekly.