More East Tennessee buildings going green

More and more buildings are going green in East Tennessee and earning LEED Certification.

LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design.

In East Tennessee, Oak Ridge leads the way with LEED certified buildings in the city and on the ORNL campus.

Friday, Clayton Homes in Maryville celebrated its LEED certification.

"It's the right thing to do," said Jason Langston, Clayton Homes' LEED Project Coordinator.

Clayton Homes worked for 3 years to renovate its headquarters, making it LEED certified. It is only the 4th building in Tennessee to earn LEED-EB certification, a designation for already existing buildings that are brought up to strict LEED standards.

"We basically had to peel apart the onion, if you will, and the more we peeled apart, the more we saw we had some opportunities there, especially with the lighting and water," Langston said.

Light comes from windows and skylights and energy-efficient bulbs.

Motion sensors control lights in conference rooms, turning off when nobody is there.

An onsite cafeteria offering healthy food and a fitness center mean workers don't have to drive anywhere to work out or eat.

The Clayton Homes LEED certification seems to be part of a trend.

"Momentum is picking up very much," Don Horton said. He is a sustainability coordinator for LEED projects.

East Tennessee features other green buildings.

The John L. Duncan Federal Building in downtown Knoxville earned LEED certification a couple years ago.

When renovations are complete at the University of Tennessee's Ayers Hall, it will be LEED certified.

The new transit center in downtown Knoxville will earn the distinction as well. Recycled materials are being used in construction and the finished project will feature solar panels and more.

"We're going to have green roofs, which will help with insulation and cut down on our costs," KAT Spokesperson Belinda Woodiel-Brill said. "We actually have geothermal wells, which are going to be used for HVAC, and it's going to be going to be about 90% less cost than a regular HVAC unit, so it's going to pay for itself in just a few years."

The Scripps Networks Headquarters expansion in West Knoxville will be LEED certified, too.

More and more companies are figuring out "green" can be good business practice.

"Going green is not always about hugging trees. Sometimes it's about harvesting dollars," Langston said.