POULTNEY, Vt., June 2 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Green Mountain College has announced that one of its residence halls has been designated as a LEED® gold certified building by the U.S. Green Building Council. SAGE Hall, which stands for "Students for Academic and Green Engagement," is the seventh major gold certified building in Vermont and the first in Rutland County. It is also the first renovated college residence hall in Vermont to receive gold certification. Green Mountain College's honors residence hall with space for 26 students, SAGE Hall was renovated to strict environmental standards last summer. Structures meeting basic requirements by the U.S. Green Building Council are deemed certified; those that go beyond minimum standards are eligible for silver, gold, and platinum ratings. Building features at SAGE include energy star windows, high efficiency lighting fixtures, low flow-bathroom fixtures and individual heating controls, Forest Stewardship Council-certified wood products, high R-value spray foam insulation, and low VOC (volatile organic compounds) flooring and furniture. Local materials, like the slate flooring in the solarium, were used whenever possible. The total cost for the renovation was $1.3 million.
