The word green brings a number of things to mind: Kermit the Frog, the Phillie Phanatic, and nowadays it evokes the burgeoning environmental movement. One thing that doesn’t spring to mind is: a skyscraper. The Comcast Center might just change that.
Recently the building, owned by the Liberty Property Trust and home to Comcast’s corporate headquarters, received LEED for Core & Shell Gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. This means that the Comcast Center is currently the tallest building in America with LEED certification, not too shabby if you ask me.
The Comcast Center has a number of features that make it ‘green’ including:
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The glass curtain wall that encases the building is made of highly insulated, double-glazed glass that blocks 60% of the heat from the sun while letting in 70% of the sun’s light.
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The building was built on top of Suburban Station, a large public transportation hub in Philadelphia, reducing the need for commuters to drive to work.
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Waterless urinals and clever fixtures save 1.2 million gallons of water every year, and the building releases 25% less sewage than a typical office building.
I also do my part by keeping the lights off in my office (years of blogging have made me very sensitive to light) whenever possible.
As you can see the Comcast Center is about more than the super cool video wall (called the Comcast Experience) in the lobby.