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| Kone Park in Kunshan receives prestigious LEED Gold certification for green buildings  Kone, a global leader in the elevator and escalator industry, has been granted LEED Gold certification for Kone Park, a manufacturing and R&D site in Kunshan, China. LEED certification is a highly respected rating system that provides third-party verification of green buildings.Kone Park earned LEED Gold certification by excelling in many of the LEED categories for green buildings, scoring full points in both water efficiency and innovation & design. KONE Park's performance in the innovation & design category was exceptional, scoring above the requirements set by the LEED rating system. This was accomplished by educating staff in green issues, using local construction materials, achieving water savings of more than 40% and implementing an exceptional waste management system with a recycling rate of 95%. "We are very proud of KONE Park's LEED Gold certification. China is by far the biggest single elevator and escalator market in the world, so we wanted a highly energy-efficient manufacturing site that delivers the majority of our elevators and escalators around the world while being highly eco-friendly. The LEED Gold certification serves as proof of KONE's strong dedication to our long-term environmental efforts and reinforces our commitment to be a leader in sustainability in our industry, " says Hanna Uusitalo, KONE's Environmental Director. Besides scoring full points in the categories of water efficiency and innovation & design, Kone Park was also recognized for its efforts to reduce emissions related to employee commuting. Among the other factors contributing to Kone's LEED Gold certification were the company's efforts to improve the indoor air quality by installing CO2 control in their HVAC (heating, ventilating and air conditioning) system, using low-emitting surface materials and paying special attention to ventilation and indoor air quality issues. Kone also implemented strict control over energy use, purchasing green power and placing firm demands on refrigerants - all efforts that helped Kone score high points in the energy & atmosphere category. Kone Park in Kunshan is Kone's largest manufacturing unit in the world, with an engineering facility, R&D center, three elevator factories and an escalator factory. The awarded site was opened in April 2013. Kone began operations in China in 1996, and opened its first Chinese factory in Kunshan in 1998. Today, Kone has a network of over 500 locations, employing more than 10,000 people in China. KONE is the leading company in new elevator and escalator orders in the Chinese market. LEED certification is granted to green design and construction sites that maximize the positive environmental impacts of buildings and use resources efficiently, while simultaneously increasing profitability and improving the health of its occupants. The LEED rating system has six green design categories: sustainable sites, water efficiency, energy & atmosphere, materials & resources, indoor environmental quality and innovation & design. write your comments about the article :: © 2014 Construction News :: home page |