Oregon State University’s Weatherford Hall has become certified as a “green” building by the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program.

The 1928 building is the first residential building on the OSU campus to receive this designation.

Kelley Engineering Center is the only other completed building at OSU that is LEED certified.

LEED is the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction, and operation of high-performance green buildings.

Five key areas are looked at for obtaining this certification: sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection, and indoor environmental quality.

Weatherford Hall houses nearly 300 students enrolled in the Austin Entrepreneurship Program, the largest residential entrepreneurship program in the country.

Although Weatherford Hall was built in 1928, it underwent a $20 million renovation in 2004.

Tom Scheuermann, director of housing and dining services at OSU, said the goal during the remodel was to make Weatherford as “green” as possible, from the materials used to remodel the building, to how the site was prepared and what was done with the leftover materials.

Scheuermann said making Weatherford a more sustainable building not only makes financial sense in terms of energy savings, but it serves as an educational model for the students and faculty who live in the building.

According to Brandon Trelstad, campus sustainability coordinator, all future capital construction projects at OSU, including new buildings and major remodels, will be LEED certified.