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| Volvo facility is ultimate in green innovation  Volvo Construction Equipment's new manufacturing facility in Shippensburg, USA is one of North America's most innovative and environmentally friendly buildings. The facility, which recently unveiled a $30 million expansion, has focused on sustainability in its design, construction, operation and culture to meet the US Green Building Council's highest standards – LEED certification.The Shippensburg facility began its quest for LEED certification during its design phase more than two years ago. Numerous environmental innovations were incorporated such as a customized building automation system, high efficient lighting and skylights, substantial insulation, low volume plumbing fixtures and low maintenance outdoor plants that do not require fertilizers or watering. Even improving indoor air quality was thought out with increased ventilation and the use of low-emitting interior finishing products (adhesives, paint, etc). The $30 million expansion at Shippensburg created a materials service center and an assembly hall, designed to improve manufacturing flow and increase production space. During construction of the 200, 000 ft2 facility, sustainable practices covered both building materials and waste materials. Many building products were sourced locally or used recycled materials and a total of 75% of construction waste was diverted from disposal either through recycling or recovery for re-use. Once up and running, the Shippensburg facility adopted sustainable manufacturing methods to continue its efforts towards LEED certification. This covers almost every aspect of the facility's activity, down to the smallest detail. For example, there are three different recycling solutions for the packaging that Volvo CE receives its materials in, including adopting Volvo's own re-usable packaging solution called emballage. write your comments about the article :: © 2010 Construction News :: home page |