Michelin Awarded Prestigious LEED Green Building Certification for its Midwest Distribution Center

"Together, the team working on this project was able to find opportunities at the early stages of design for sustainability and efficiency and implement them by employing a creative approach to the facility's construction," said Pete Selleck, chairman and president, Michelin North America, Inc.

The Michelin distribution center, which roughly comprises the size of 30 football fields, is a single-story warehouse that serves Michelin customers in the Midwest region. The center is the largest warehouse in the RidgePort Logistics Center in Wilmington.

A few of the environmental features of the Michelin Midwest Distribution Center that led to the LEED Gold rating include:

• Optimized energy performance — The facility is projected to be 59 percent above a baseline energy model, with interior and exterior LED lighting contributing to much of the energy savings.
• Minimizing ozone depletion — Michelin's heating and cooling systems in the facility do not use CFC-based refrigerants, HCFCs or halons.
• Construction waste management — More than 92 percent of the building's construction debris was diverted from local landfills and recycled into new products.
• Water use reduction — The Michelin warehouse is able to achieve significant water savings through the installation of efficient plumbing fixtures for the toilets, showers and all sink faucets, all of which saves 44 percent of the facility's water when compared to the LEEDv3 water baseline. In addition, native and adaptive plants were selected for the outside landscaping, which eliminated the need for a permanent irrigation system.
• Recycled content — Post-consumer and pre-consumer products and material represent 30 percent of the cost of products used to construct the site. Examples of these materials included steel, concrete, drywall, carpet, doors and insulation.
• Green power — 35 percent of the building's projected energy use for at least the next two years will come from renewable sources.
• Alternative transportation — In a concerted effort to promote and encourage the use of bikes and low-emitting and fuel-efficient vehicles, Michelin and its builders reserved bike storage for 5 percent of the staff and visitors, and provided reserved parking spots for qualifying fuel saving cars.

About LEED

The U.S. Green Building Council's LEED green building certification system is the foremost program for the design, construction and operation of green buildings. Over 100,000 projects are currently participating in the LEED rating systems, comprising over 8 billion square feet of construction space in all 50 states and 114 countries. By using less energy, LEED-certified buildings save money for families, businesses and taxpayers; reduce greenhouse gas emissions; and contribute to a healthier environment for residents, workers and the larger community. USGBC was co-founded by current President and CEO Rick Fedrizzi, who spent 25 years as a Fortune 500 executive. Under his 15-year leadership, the organization has become the preeminent green building, membership, policy, standards, influential, education and research organization in the nation. For more information, visit www.usgbc.org.

About Michelin North America

Dedicated to the improvement of sustainable mobility, Michelin designs, manufactures and sells tires for every type of vehicle, including airplanes, automobiles, bicycles, earthmovers, farm equipment, heavy-duty trucks and motorcycles. The company has earned a long-standing reputation for building innovative premium tires.  Since 1989, Michelin has received 80 J.D. Power tire customer satisfaction awards—five times the number of all other tire manufacturers combined. In addition to tires, the company also publishes travel guides, hotel and restaurant guides, maps and road atlases. Headquartered in Greenville, S.C., Michelin North America (www.michelinman.com) employs about 22,700 and operates 19 major manufacturing plants.

SOURCE Michelin

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