CHARLOTTE, N.C., June 15, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Piedmont Natural
Gas (NYSE: PNY) today announced that its Tennessee Operations
Center facility in Nashville,
Tennessee has received the coveted "Gold" rating from the
United States Green Building Council's (USGBC) LEED rating system.
The facility, completed in April, 2010, has won numerous
other awards including the Urban Land Institute's Excellence in
Development Award 2011, the 2011 Middle Tennessee
Office Development of the Year Award from the Nashville chapter of the National Association
of Industrial and Office Properties, and a McGraw-Hill Best of
2010 – Award of Excellence for Architectural Design. The
Tennessee Operations Center joins Piedmont's Tarboro (NC) Operations Center as the
Company's second operations facility to earn a prestigious LEED
rating from the USGBC and is Piedmont's first Operations Center to receive
a "Gold" rating. The Tarboro Operations Center received a "Silver"
rating.
Thomas E. Skains, Piedmont's chairman, president, and chief
executive officer, commented on the LEED recognition, "We are
certainly proud of the fact that this facility has been awarded a
'Gold' LEED rating from the USGBC. Coming just after the release of
our inaugural Sustainability Report last week, the LEED
recognition is tangible proof of our long-standing commitment to
operate our business based on a specific set of values and
sustainable practices and to be good stewards of our communities,
the environment, and our shareholders' investment."
The USGBC is a nonprofit organization based in Washington, D.C. that promotes the design and
construction of buildings that are environmentally responsible,
profitable and healthy places to live and work. To obtain the
group's GOLD rating, Piedmont's
new operations facility was rated on six major areas including
sustainable sites, water use, energy efficiency, indoor
environmental quality and materials and resources. Some of
the facility's design features include LED lighting systems that
use less energy and last up to five times longer than fluorescent
or incandescent lighting; the use of solar powered lighting for the
parking lot; protection from solar heat gain through the use of
exterior building shades controlled by the sun's orientation;
construction of the building using materials that contained
recycled content of over 20 percent; and, a partial "green roof"
that helps control solar heat gain through the roof. The
building site is also home to a five-acre wetland that was
preserved during the construction process and upon which the
Company has created mulched walking trails and pedestrian
bridges.
Designed by C design Inc., the building was developed and
constructed by Baron + Dowdle Construction. The civil
engineer on the project was Barge Cauthen & Associates.
About Piedmont Natural Gas
Piedmont Natural Gas is an energy services company primarily
engaged in the distribution of natural gas to more than one million
residential, commercial and industrial utility customers in
North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee, including 53,000 customers served
by municipalities who are wholesale customers. Our
subsidiaries are invested in joint venture, energy-related
businesses, including unregulated retail natural gas marketing,
interstate natural gas storage and intrastate natural gas
transportation. More information about Piedmont Natural Gas
is available on the internet at http://www.piedmontng.com.
SOURCE Piedmont Natural Gas