First California winery certified with green 'gold' rating
July 22, 2009
By Panos Kakaviatos
St Helena winery in the Napa Valley has become the first in California to receive a gold certificate for its environmental awareness and sustainability.
The winery has been highlighted as a 'gold certified facility' by the US Green Building Council's LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) rating system.
Design elements such as 42,000 square feet of solar panels providing more than 35% of its energy, vineyards irrigated with recycled water, and radiant flooring to control temperature, mean the winery meets LEED's strict criteria.
'The certification demonstrates how all industries can choose to be solvers of our collective environmental challenges,' said Rick Fedrizzi, CEO of the US Green Building Council.
Allison Jordan of the Wine Institute said, 'There appears to be quite a bit of interest in this certification option for wineries to make credible claims regarding their green building efforts,' she told decanter.com.
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