BELOIT — By the end of the year, Beloit will have two buildings — a new Kettle Foods plant and a new Beloit College Center for the Sciences — that represent the cutting edge of environmentally friendly construction.

“When we have two significant structures like this, it says something about the community,” said Andrew Janke, the city’s economic development director. “I think it’s relatively unique.”

Both buildings comply with LEED standards, which stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. LEED certification is awarded by the U.S. Green Building Council, a nonprofit organization founded in 1993 and headquartered in Washington, D.C. The organization is comprised of industry leaders in construction, architecture and design. Its mission is building “environmentally responsible, profitable and healthy places to live and work.”

“I think it’s the wave of the future, frankly,” said Brock Spencer, chemistry professor and chairman of the building committee for the Beloit College Center for the Sciences, which will seek LEED silver certification when it’s complete later this year. “I think it says we’re ahead of the curve for a city of this size.”

Spencer said the decision to pursue LEED certification was relatively easy, once the cost was reviewed.

“There’s always the question, ‘Does LEED certification cost more?’” Spencer said.

While there are additional upfront costs associated with LEED practices, Spencer said, it does pay off quickly.

“It just makes good economic sense to build a green building,” he added.

Those in the construction industry agree.

“We’ve seen projects easily saving 20 percent of their energy,” said Mike Whaley, director of preconstruction at J.H Findorff and Sons Inc., a Madison construction firm working on the Center for the Sciences project. “Having a building that’s more efficient makes good business sense.”

Jim Green, community ambassador for Kettle Foods, said the savings are indeed significant.

“We’re estimating saving $200,000 a year from the efficiency of the building,” he said of the new facility on the southeast side of Beloit.

The 73,000-square-foot plant is the first food-production facility in the nation to earn LEED gold certification at its ribbon-cutting in September. There are a dozen LEED gold plants in other industries, but the amount of energy used and waste produced in the food-production industry make it especially difficult to maintain environmentally friendly practices.

According to Green, there were challenges in obtaining LEED certification, but he noted that it dovetails with the company’s emphasis on sustainability.

“It required us to really rethink how to build a building,” Green said. “It’s really been a part of who we’ve been in the beginning … LEED certification is just an extension of who we are.”

As part of its focus on leaving a small environmental footprint, Kettle is working on restoring five acres of long-grass prairie to its natural state on the plant site. In Salem, Ore., where the company is headquartered, Kettle restored two acres of wetlands adjacent to one of its facilities.

“That thinking of nature and industry coexisting — not only coexisting, but thriving — we think is achievable,” Green said.
Local contractors who are making the shift to green building practices agree that protecting the local landscape is feasible.

“Obviously, if the construction industry can do something to protect our natural resources, we should,” said Jerry Klobucar, of Klobucar Construction, one of the contractors on the Center for the Sciences project.

Klobucar said that educating staff about the importance of recycling everything at the site has been a challenge, but he believes green building practices are going to become standard.

“Green — you see that in everything now,” he said. “It’s a catchphrase, (but) I think that eventually that hoopla is going to settle down. It’s going to become the norm.”

Many involved in Beloit’s two LEED-certified building projects said they’re surprised the standards are so stringent. The college, for example, is taking things like old doors from its old science building and using them to make tables for the new center. At Kettle Foods, the parking lot has spaces reserved for employees driving alternative-fuel cars, and the plant gives workers access to natural light.

“That is one of the things that really surprised us about the LEED certification — how focused it is on the workers’ environment,” Green said.

Though LEED standards are becoming increasingly popular, Whaley said he sees companies that aren’t seeking certification making green-related changes.

“We’re doing everything we can on every project,” he said. “I think it’s going to be more and more common in the next couple of years. It’s not about the certificate. It’s about doing what’s right.”

Other Beloit companies are intimately involved in the green-building trend. ABC Supply Co., for example, is the designer of GreenGrid roofs. The roofs — complete with plant life — can help a building gain LEED certification.

And Mulehide Products Inc. created a waterproofing system using recycled materials to complement GreenGrid roofs.

Jm Lindell, national marketing manager for Weston Solutions, which manufactures and markets the roofs, said many customers cite LEED certification as a reason for going with GreenGrid.

“They can gain you LEED points; they’re energy-efficient and use recycled content,” Lindell said.