City of Plano - Green Building Policy for Municipal Buildings

In January 2007, the City of Plano adopted a policy to "finance, plan, design, construct, manage, renovate, and maintain its facilities and buildings to be sustainable." This policy applies to new construction and major renovations. The City will use the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system to determine what constitutes sustainable building by national standards. The City of Plano requires the highest level of LEED certification possible for all city facilities.

Return on investment will be considered when determining feasibility of implementing green features. While pursuing the highest level of LEED certification possible, the level (certified, silver, gold or platinum) will be determined by the points gained in incorporating a prioritized list of features into the design of the building, which includes passive solar, day lighting, adjustable lighting systems, reflective roofs, and HVAC energy performance and efficiency, among other sustainability features. Decisions will not be based on including features just to gain additional LEED points.