AMARILLO, Texas (March 27, 2019) – The U.S. Green Building Council has awarded Xcel Energy’s 790 Buchanan building in downtown Amarillo a LEED Silver status for meeting high efficiency and sustainability standards.
“For years we have encouraged our customers to use energy more efficiently and to be good stewards of our environment, and we believe we should model those behaviors in the way we generate electricity and in how we carry out our daily work,” said David Hudson, president, Xcel Energy – New Mexico, Texas. “The new 790 Buchanan building meets our high standards of efficiency and hopefully will set a trend in how buildings are constructed across the region.”
LEED, or Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, is a certification that can be granted to a whole building and for a number of different building systems, based on a point system. LEED buildings are classified as basic LEED, silver, gold and platinum based on the number of points a building scores.
Xcel Energy’s new seven-story regional headquarters, located at 790 S. Buchanan St. on the east side of downtown Amarillo, was built by Opus Design Build LLC. Xcel Energy leases the building from a SunTrust Bank real estate investment trust. The building features an architectural precast concrete and glass exterior with more than 18 percent of the construction materials sourced from recycled materials. The office structure is equipped with energy-efficient heating and cooling systems and energy-saving LED lighting throughout. Additionally, low-flow plumbing fixtures were installed that use half as much water as systems found in older buildings.
When 790 Buchanan opened in May 2017, it became the first high-rise office structure built in downtown Amarillo since the 1980s. It houses an executive office for Xcel Energy’s regional operating company, along with working groups such as regulatory administration, engineering and a host of departments focused on the planning, design and operations of the region’s electricity generating and power delivery systems. Xcel Energy accommodates more than 300 workers in the 790 Buchanan building.
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About Xcel Energy
Xcel Energy (NASDAQ: XEL) provides the energy that powers millions of homes and businesses across eight Western and Midwestern states. Headquartered in Minneapolis, the company is an industry leader in responsibly reducing carbon emissions and producing and delivering clean energy solutions from a variety of renewable sources at competitive prices. For more information, visit xcelenergy.com or follow us on Twitter and Facebook.
