Nov 10
Taking the LEED
Posted by AG under: Economic development; Green; High-tech .
Making the Proximity Hotel super energy-efficient cost an extra $2 million. As a self-proclaimed capitalist, entrepreneur Dennis Quaintance thinks that’s a good investment. Why?
Because, according to his calculations, he’ll get it all back in four years. After that, the savings are gravy, and not the kind served at the adjoining Print Works Bistro.
The Proximity is the nation’s first hotel certified as LEED Platinum. That’s the highest designation in the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program. As such, the hotel has garnered publicity in the New York Times and much admiration from coast to coast. And it helps make Greensboro look pretty good, too.
Word of the achievement has been out for a while, but Quaintance officially received the LEED designation at a press event Monday. That’s him on the left and USGBC official Marc Heisterkamp on the right.
The Proximity and Print Works use 33 percent less water and 40 percent less energy, Quaintance said. Because it requires less electricity, 1 million pounds of coal won’t have to be burned by Duke Energy in the hotel’s first year of operation. And every year thereafter. That’s money saved and fewer greenhouse gasses released.
To drive home the point, Quaintance cued a pickup loaded with coal to roll into view. To display all the coal not burned in 12 months would have required another 1,999 pickups.
With engineering advice from N.C. A&T State University, lots of local contractors and energy specialists from elsewhere in the state, Quaintance-Weaver Restaurants and Hotels has created a model for responsible development.
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