UTD LEED Buildings

UT Dallas is a champion for sustainability in many areas, including operations and building management. We have a number of LEED-certified and green buildings around campus, such as Dining Hall West and Student Services Building. Wonder what makes these buildings green? Here are some information on the LEED certification and some of our LEED-certified buildings on campus!

What is LEED?

LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification, a program sponsored by U.S. Green Building Council, a non-profit organization that promotes sustainability within design, construction, and operation. 

Framework

A building can achieve this certification in 5 areas:

1. Energy use: energy-efficient lighting, HVAC, the use of daylight to reduce lighting costs, and indoor air quality
2. Location of the building and sustainability of the immediate environment
3. Indoor air quality and use of daylight to reduce lighting costs
4. Water conservation and reduced-use mechanisms
5. Use of sustainable materials during construction

What buildings are LEED-certified at UTD?

In chronological order, these are our campus buildings that have been LEED-certified:

Student Services Building

School of Management Addition

Parking Structure 1

Edith O’Donnell Arts & Technology Building

Residence Hall West, Dining Hall West, Rec Center West

Bioengineering and Science Building

Davidson-Gundy Alumni Center

Engineering and Computer Science West Building

Sciences Building

Some notable features from our green buildings! 

• Student Services Building: there are floating terra-cotta louvers on the outside of the building used to regulate the amount of heat gain and to take advantage of naturally available light, or daylight harvesting. 76% of all occupied spaces inside SSB have natural daylight and 93% of occupied spaces have views to the outside.

• Edith O’Donnell Arts and Technology Building: the ATEC building repurposed land that used to be all a tennis court, a parking lot, and a bookstore. The white roof of the ATEC building minimizes our university’s heat island effect, which occur when cities replace natural landscapes with structures such as buildings and roads that absorb and re-emit the sun’s heat more than forests and water bodies.

• Recreation Center West, Dining Hall West, Residence Hall West: all 3 buildings are joined into one common heating and cooling system, making energy and water conservation measures very efficient.

• Bioengineering and Science Building: BSB has sustainable wood products throughout the building along with daylight harvesting sensors that adjust the amount of daylight, making the building very efficient.

Interested in learning about more of our LEED-certified buildings? Read on here: https://sustainability.utdallas.edu/operations/buildings/ 

Written by Yen Pham