New LEED Platinum certified building in Omaha

by Nate Maniktala, M.E. Group Principal / Vice-President

M.E. GROUP’s Omaha Office earns LEED® 2009 Platinum Certification. The project becomes one of the few in the Nation to achieve this rating in the new more stringent LEED 2009 (v3) Rating System. The M.E. GROUP office was designed to achieve a 49% reduction in energy use beyond the ASHRAE 90.1‐2007 baseline.

After one year of operation, with the implementation of a measurement and verification plan the building has performed better than modeled, achieving a 50% reduction in actual energy use as compared to the standard. Other features include: an integrated daylighting system, geo-exchange system, thermally optimized envelope, energy recovery, photovoltaic array, and 42% water use reduction as compared to the more stringent LEED 2009 standard. Performance of the solar array can be tracked online at www.megroupsolar.com.