The Johnson Controls headquarters campus at Glendale, Wisconsin has the largest concentration of buildings on one campus to ever receive LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Platinum certification.

LEED certification by the U.S. Green Building Council rates buildings on how well they save energy and water, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, improve indoor environmental quality and their overall environmental impact. Platinum is the highest LEED designation.

The four LEED Platinum-certified buildings on the Glendale campus embody the latest green, sustainable designs and technologies, and they utilize the Johnson Controls Metasys™ building management system which continuously monitors, integrates and controls all key systems to optimize comfort, efficiency and security.

While the square footage of the project has doubled, energy usage is down 21 percent. Water usage has been reduced by 595,000 gallons a year. Greenhouse gas emissions have been reduced by the equivalent of 857,200 million pounds of carbon dioxide a year.

All this was done — not by entirely building a brand new facility from scratch — but by restoring more than 44-year old architecture to not only look appealing but to function in an environmentally friendly manner. Since existing buildings account for the vast majority of energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, making existing buildings more efficient and sustainable has the potential for doing the substantial good for the environment.