Charles Luke Milam Bachelor Housing, the newest building at Naval Station Everett (NSE), officially received the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) gold rating during a formal presentation March 29 in the front lobby of the building.

“LEED is a rating system developed by the U.S. Green Building Council,” said Lt.j.g. Zachary Scheel, assistant Public Works officer and LEED accredited professional. “It is an internationally recognized way to measure how green or energy efficient your building is.”

The system rates a building “certified”, “silver”, “gold” or “platinum” depending on how environmentally friendly the building is.

Hoffman Construction Company and Belay Architecture worked with the Navy on this project. According to Lyle Martin, vice president of Hoffman Construction, this project began below the silver rating. They eventually decided to put the extra effort and money into the project to get certified. With their new plans, the building had a solid silver rating.

Martin said the Navy noticed the efforts and stepped up with some energy efficient plans of their own including water efficient landscaping and alternative transportation. Altogether this put the project into a solid LEED gold.

“This was a combined effort between everyone involved,” said Martin.

During construction, over 98 percent of waste generated was either recycled by partnering with Naval Station Everett Public Works Department, donated to local charitable organizations, or salvaged for use in other projects.

In addition to recycling waste materials, over 20 percent of materials installed during construction came from recycled sources.

The building uses 28 percent less energy than performance standards set forth by state and federal regulations and 31 percent less potable water.

Finally, 70 percent of the building’s electricity will come from renewable energy sources for the first two years of operation. This energy will come from wind, solar, geothermal and biomass sources generated off base.

“It’s unbelievable,” said Scheel. “It’s only the second new construction in the Navy to receive this award and it’s the highest rating received by any building in the Navy in the world. It sets the bar for new construction moving forward in the Navy.”

The Charles Luke Milam Bachelor Housing was dedicated April 24, 2009 in honor of Hospital Corpsman 2nd Class Charles Luke Milam who was killed in action while participating in combat operations in Helmand Province, Afghanistan.