The fire trucks may be red, but Evanston’s Fire Station No. 5 is certified green. The station became the first in Illinois to achieve the gold level in Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification from the United States Green Building Council, city officials announced this week.
The LEED system assigns points to buildings based on factors such as how much energy they use and how much waste they generate. Gold is the second highest level of certification. The city passed a Green Building Ordinance in December 2009 requiring all new buildings to achieve silver level certification, which is one level lower than gold.
Construction on Fire Station No. 5 finished around the same time the ordinance passed, said Doug Gaynor, Evanston’s director of facilities management. The station’s builders sought from the start to earn as high a LEED rating as possible, he said.
“We were striving for silver at a minimum,” Gaynor said.
Though the builders realized they were close to meeting the gold standard as construction progressed, the certification still came as a pleasant surprise, he said.
The LEED certification criteria factor in how much energy is required to transport a building’s materials, Gaynor said. The fire station’s builders tried to find local materials to improve its rating.
“If you have to go to California to get windows, it’s costing energy,” Gaynor said.
Other features that helped boost the fire station’s LEED rating include its use of sustainably harvested wood, water-efficient landscaping and an energy-efficient building shell, according a statement the city released Wednesday.
“It started with minimizing debris sent to a landfill when the old station was demolished,” said Fire and Life Safety Services Chief Alan Berkowsky in the press release. “Most of the new construction materials used are renewable and healthy materials.”
Firefighters contributed to the design process, Gaynor said. He said they seem happy with the station’s facilities.
“I think they’re loving it,” he said.
Only 10 other fire stations in the United States have gold certification. Mayor Elizabeth Tisdahl suggested Evanston’s extraordinary commitment to the environment helped it become the first Illinois community with a gold station. For example, the city is one of just a few of its size to employ a director of sustainability, she said.
“I hope (this certification) will inspire other people,” she said.
The initial cost of green construction also may have deterred other cities, Gaynor said. Environmentally friendly buildings generally cost 3 to 15 percent more to construct than their standard counterparts, he said. Gaynor said Evanston spent $5 million on Fire Station No. 5.
But green buildings ultimately pay for themselves, Gaynor said.
“You recapture it in your energy savings,” he said. “And it’s worth saving the Earth.”
Though Evanston is mired in a budget crisis, the city is committed to environmentally sustainable architecture, Tisdahl said.
“If we build more buildings, they will be green,” she said.
