Awards / Green Design
Winning Gold

Pomona College won its first gold award—and the first for Claremont—for the design and construction of its green-friendly Lincoln and Edmunds buildings. The gold certification by the U.S. Green Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Program, was the second award for the College, which won its first certification, a silver, for the Richard C. Seaver Biology Building.

“We were aiming for silver plus with Lincoln and Edmunds. We didn’t realize we’d be quite as far ahead, which is great,” says David Oxtoby, president of the College.

“The gold award is fantastic. It’s wonderful recognition of Pomona’s commitment to be better citizens and to do what we can to reduce Pomona’s environmental footprint.”

The adjacent Lincoln and Edmunds buildings, spanning a combined 92,000 square feet at the northern end of campus, and opened in January 2007. Their green-friendly features include: a photovoltaic system, which can provide up to 22.4 percent of the building’s power; operable windows; waterless urinals; and high efficiency lighting. Construction involved the elimination of chlorofluorocarbons (CFC’s) and halon refrigerants as well as the use of recycled materials and rapidly renewable materials, such as bamboo flooring used in parts of the buildings.