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Today, the Green Building Certification Institute (GBCI) launched LEED Proven Provider, a new designation that streamlines the LEED project review process for experienced organizations that demonstrate consistent excellence in administering LEED projects. "LEED Proven Provider makes the LEED review process faster and more seamless," said Doug Gatlin, vice president of program delivery, U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and GBCI. "It allows GBCI to deliver faster reviews of LEED projects while still maintaining the integrity of the LEED certification process."

LEED-certified hotels are seeing plenty of payback on their green investments, a new study suggests. LEED hotels saw "superior financial performance," gaining an average of $20 in revenues per room over their non-LEED rivals.

The Grand Central Creative Campus (GC3) Phase 2 received a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Platinum certification-the council's highest honor. This award marks the first Platinum building in the Disney portfolio. The King's Mountain Technology Center, a Disney property in North Carolina, also received a LEED Silver certification.

The US Green Building Council (USGBC) has updated the LEED green building rating system in an attempt to stop illegal logging.

The Green Parking Council (GPC), an affiliate of the International Parking Institute (IPI), has launched the Green Garage Certification program. The program is the parking industry equivalent of the US Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) certification, and recognizes and inspires high standards in sustainable parking facility design, technology, operations and management.

60 percent of surveyed companies believe LEED positively impacts their return on investment (ROI).

Unilever is planning to build in Turkey what could become the first LEED-certified ice cream factory. The $127 million facility will include rainwater harvesting systems, heat- and energy-saving systems, and an attached facility for sorting and processing waste. GreenBiz.com

Leaders of the Natural Resources Defense Council, Sierra Club, Greenpeace, and 16 other organizations sent an open letter urging the Green Building Initiative (GBI) to strengthen its Green Globes standard or state more explicitly that their standard is less rigorous than LEED or Living Building Challenge ones. The letter also urged GBI to stop attacking the credibility of LEED standards.

The USGBC recently released its 2015 Top Ten States for LEED list, naming the U.S. states that lead the nation in sustainable building design, construction, and transformation. For the third year in a row, Illinois topped the list of total square feet of LEED-certified space per resident. 

North Carolina's Proximity Hotel is the first US hotel to receive the Green Building Council's LEED Platinum status, due in part to elevators that generate power and other features that help the hotel use 40% less energy than comparable competitors. "The only ambition was, let's sincerely consider sustainable practices with each of our decisions," said Dennis Quaintance, CEO of Quaintance-Weaver Restaurants and Hotels.

A shopping center in Thousand Oaks, Calif., has been named the first BREEAM USA In-Use certified building in the country, a designation for sustainability efforts at pre-existing nonresidential structures. The Oaks Shopping Center features 6,000 solar panels, LED lighting, a mixed-materials recycling campaign and more to help minimize the building's environmental impact.

Starbucks opened a new store yesterday at Disneyland Resort in California as an effort to introduce a series of environmentally-friendly coffee shops worldwide. Located at Downtown Disney in Anaheim, the new LEED-certified shop was built totally from reclaimed wood with a large yard surrounded by a green wall with more than 1,000 plants. Customers will experience an interactive environment created by a 10-foot video installation with high technology and nice design.

Today, the Green Building Certification Institute (GBCI) and the Well Building Institute (IWBI) announced a new partnership that strives to make health and wellness a more fundamental building block of green building design.

Coca-Cola began building a $100 million beverage plant in Heilongjiang, China that will seek to achieve LEED silver certification. The plant is expected to open in 2016.

The Hotel at Oberlin in Ohio is one of five US hotels that have met the stringent sustainable criteria for LEED Platinum certification. The hotel relies on geothermal energy for heating and cooling and uses solar panels to produce electricity.

Caesars Entertainment and Heinz are among the companies with stellar environmental records, exceeding their sustainability goals. Heinz is consuming 23% less water, creating 23.8% less greenhouse gas emissions and sending 51.2% less solid waste to landfills, while Caesars has reduced greenhouse gases 28 percent, already surpassed its target for reducing water consumption, and achieved LEED certification on every expansion or new building since 2007.

The Minnesota National Guard installed solar panels and geothermal systems at its Camp Ripley base in an effort to reach zero emissions. The Guard earned a silver LEED rating for its readiness center and hopes to achieve a similar rating for all of its federally funded buildings.

BREEAM, the leading UK green-building rating system, has crossed the pond and is looking to take on its US counterpart LEED.

The new Center for Sustainable Shale Development recognizes companies that go beyond regulatory minimums to protect communities and the environment.