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First LEED Silver Food Production Facility Awarded to Carolina Ingredients
Rock Hill, SC – July 26, 2010 - Carolina Ingredients announced today it has been awarded LEED® Silver by the U.S Green Building Council (USGBG). Carolina Ingredients is the first industrial food producers in the U.S. to occupy a LEED–certified manufacturing facility and one of the first seasoning manufacturers in the country to use solar energy as an alternative energy source in production.
“Carolina Ingredients wants to be an environmentally friendly manufacturer and be attractive to environmentally sensitive food production partners,” says Doug Meyer-Cuno, president of the business. “We believe our sustainability efforts are unique in our industry.”
Carolina Ingredients chose R4 Architecture, Optima Engineering and Myers & Chapman to design and build the new facility. The most notable aspect of the $5 million facility is the 156-unit photovoltaic solar panel array, designed and installed by Argand Energy. The system is expected to reduce the business’s carbon footprint by 23 tons of carbon dioxide annually. The project included the replacement of all plumbing, HVAC, and electrical devices. Only materials rated low VOC (volatile organic compounds) were used in the renovation. Carolina Ingredients also installed and uses a solar thermal system to pre-heat water for its natural gas-powered water heater. The 60,000-square-foot facility includes offices, product testing and development space, production area, packaging, warehouse and distribution space.
“With each new LEED-certified building, we get one step closer to USGBC’s vision of a sustainable built environment within a generation,” said Rick Fedrizzi, President, CEO & Founding Chair, U.S. Green Building Council. “As the newest member of the LEED family of green buildings, Carolina Ingredients is an important addition to the growing strength of the green building movement”
Carolina Ingredients expects the new facility to use 88.5 less wash-down water than conventional food producers, and save energy through the use of more efficient lighting, specifically the use of natural lighting throughout the building.
“We’re extremely pleased with the result achieved for Carolina Ingredients,” said Bob Webb, CEO of Myers & Chapman. “All of the partners in the project, from the owner, the architect, Optima Engineering, our subcontractors, and our own staff, really worked hard to ensure the project came together better than Carolina Ingredients expected. We broke new ground in the region in terms of creating an environmentally sensitive industrial facility.”