Attaining Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification is a goal for most owners facing a major construction project. An internationally recognized green building certification system developed by the U.S. Green Building Council, LEED advances sustainable building and development practices through a rating system that recognizes strategies for environmental and sustainable performance. For food and beverage facilities, however, LEED certification presents challenges.
Food and beverage facilities with large process loads, blow molding operations or injection molding operations likely will be hard-pressed to achieve LEED certification because of the amount of energy these processes consume. The Energy and Atmosphere category is 31 percent of the LEED certification scorecard and has a minimum energy performance prerequisite that also must be met. This makes it one of the most challenging categories to fulfill for any manufacturing facility seeking LEED certification.