High Performance Buildings in Greensburg, Kansas
The SunChips® Business Incubator is just one of Greensburg's LEED Platinum certified buildings.
Courtesy of Joah Bussert, Greensburg GreenTown
Eight of the 16 units at the Prairie Pointe Townhome complex in Greensburg are estimated to use 50% less energy than code.
Credit: Rachel Sullivan, NREL
With technical assistance from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and its National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL), Greensburg, Kansas, has rebuilt and renovated highly efficient commercial and residential buildings throughout the community.
To date, Greensburg's per capita ratio of U.S. Green Building Council Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED®) certified buildings is one per approximately every 129 citizens. In a town of 900 people, that's the highest per-capita concentration of LEED buildings in the United States.
Commercial Buildings
Greensburg has achieved many LEED certified building "firsts" for the country and the state of Kansas, including:
- City of Greensburg SunChips® Business Incubator—the first LEED Platinum municipal building in Kansas. Read the brochure
. - Kiowa County Memorial Hospital—the first LEED Platinum critical access hospital in the United States. Read the brochure.
New and renovated highly efficient commercial buildings, including:
- City Hall—designed to be the first newly constructed LEED Platinum city hall building in the United States. Read the brochure.
- USD 422 Greensburg K-12 School—a LEED Platinum building built to be 60% more energy efficient than standard code and generate electricity with an on-site wind turbine. Read the brochure.
- Kiowa County Courthouse—renovated with sustainable and energy-saving technologies while maintaining the structure's original design. Read the brochure.
Residential Buildings
In addition to its numerous commercial building successes, new homes in Greensburg average 40% less energy use than code, while the Prairie Pointe Townhome development is the first residential LEED Platinum building in Kansas.
During the process of providing technical assistance to Greensburg, many lessons were learned about incorporating energy efficiency and renewable energy into disaster recovery. Find more examples and information on the variety of buildings and projects in Greensburg that save energy and increase renewable energy use in the following resources: