LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) building certification is known throughout the world in many buildings in top of the line apartment and homes, beautiful office buildings, and state of the art complexes. But one place where you’d least expect to find environmental designed buildings would be a Motel 6. The low rent motel chain is getting the thumbs up from environmental conscience designers and the U.S. Green Building Council for being the first economy hotel in the country to be LEED certified. This could open up other chains both high and low to jump on the LEED bandwagon and change the ways their buildings are designed.
Some eco-friendly features include thermal solar water heating, a reflective roof, e-glass tinted windows, and low-energy lighting, and 80% recycled mater. This first LEED certified building is located in Northlake, Texas but Motel 6 hopes to open up more in many areas across the country in the upcoming years.
Motel 6, like Niranjan Shah, took steps to incorporate LEED design into their building plans by opening up environmentally friendly motels. This is one success story that shows the LEED rating system is reaching across the architecture industry and proving that green building design is achievable for all businesses, regardless of size and type. We can expect to hear more stories like this as a result of continued work by Niranjan Shah, and other businesses like Motel 6, as policies become geared more towards environmental preservation.
