Gulfstream facilities earn LEED silver certifications

Gulfstream Aerospace Corp. today announced that a number of its facilities have received the U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC) Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Silver certification. The buildings in Savannah and Brunswick, Georgia, were designed to support continued growth of Gulfstream’s worldwide fleet and include manufacturing, refurbishment and parts facilities in Savannah and a maintenance facility in Brunswick.

“As part of our commitment to sustainability, Gulfstream is focused on reducing our environmental impact, both in the air and on the ground,” said Mark Burns, president, Gulfstream. “One of the ways we do that is by making our infrastructure more sustainable. These projects have helped us ensure that the distribution of our parts and the manufacturing of our all-new aircraft family, the G500 and G600, are more sustainable. Having the LEED designation for these facilities demonstrates our continued commitment to preserving the environment for future generations.”

The USGBC’s LEED green building certification program recognizes sustainable building strategies and practices. The LEED certification for Gulfstream’s facility projects were achieved by meeting standards established for sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, material selection and indoor environmental quality.

LEED Silver certification has been achieved in Savannah for Gulfstream’s two purpose-built manufacturing facilities for the G500 and G600; the state-of-the-art, 405,868-square- foot/37,706-square-meter Product Support Distribution Center; and the 80,000-sf/7,432-sm Product Support paint facility for in-service aircraft. In Brunswick, the facility’s newest maintenance hangar, which spans nearly 110,000 sf/10,219 sm, has also achieved LEED Silver certification.

Environmentally friendly elements of the new building projects include:

-Sustainable site development, including recycled fill and recycled construction waste

-Low-flow plumbing features

-Low-emitting construction materials

-Reflective roofing materials and increased roof and window insulation for energy

efficiency

-Highly efficient HVAC systems, including chiller beams and energy recovery systems

that optimize building performance

-High-efficient lighting and lighting control sensors

-Drought-tolerant and native plants requiring little or no irrigation

These buildings join Gulfstream’s fourth Research and Development Center, which also achieved LEED Silver certification.

Gulfstream’s sustainability strategy supports the goals established by the National Business Aviation Association, the General Aviation Manufacturing Association and the International Business Aviation Council. Those goals include carbon-neutral growth by 2020; an improvement in fuel efficiency by an average of 2 percent a year until 2020; and a reduction in total carbon dioxide emissions by 50 percent by 2050 relative to 2005. These objectives are expected to be achieved in four main areas: technology, infrastructure and operational improvements, alternative fuels, and market-based measures.