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Cat Financial Center Awarded LEED-EB(R) Gold from United States Green Building Council

Posted on: Wednesday, 1 April 2009, 09:00 CDT

NASHVILLE, Tenn., April 1 /PRNewswire/ -- The Caterpillar Financial Center has been awarded LEED-EB(R) 2.0 (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design for Existing Buildings) Gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). Achieving the certification makes the Cat Financial Center the first building in the Caterpillar family and the first privately owned, commercial building in Tennessee to become LEED-EB certified. LEED is a third-party certification program and the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings. LEED-Gold certification is the second highest rating obtainable in the system.

LEED promotes a whole-building approach to sustainability by recognizing performance in five key areas of human and environmental health: sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection and indoor environmental quality. SSRCx, a Nashville-based commissioning firm specializing in the design, construction and operation of high-performance green buildings, provided LEED facilitation services for the project.

"Congratulations to our employees. This is truly a company-wide accomplishment of which we can all be proud. Caterpillar Financial, along with Caterpillar Inc., strives to be a good steward in the environmental arena," said Caterpillar Vice President and Cat Financial President Kent Adams. "Successfully identifying and managing our environmental impact protects the environment we all live in, makes good business sense and is the right thing to do for our community, employees, customers and shareholders."

Among the highlights of the Cat Financial Center's green features are:

• Restructured building operation and maintenance practices to be sustainable best practices consistent with the LEED process
• Reduced consumption of electricity by 6%, water by 22% and reduced solid waste by 49%
• Installed low Mercury level fluorescent lights
• Initiated a recycling and composting program
• Formed a Sustainability Committee with employee representatives from various departments to sustain progress

SSRCx also provided services including retro-commissioning, a process that improves the operations of an existing building to enhance the facility's overall performance, and Continuous Commissioning(R), which is critical for maintaining the long-term energy savings of a LEED-Certified facility.

More information on the LEED green building certification system is available at www.usgbc.org/LEED.

About Cat Financial:

For over 25 years, Cat Financial, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Caterpillar Inc., has been providing a wide range of financing alternatives to customers and Caterpillar dealers for Caterpillar machinery and engines, Solar(R) gas turbines and other equipment and marine vessels. Cat Financial has offices and subsidiaries located throughout the Americas, Asia, Australia and Europe, with headquarters in Nashville, Tennessee.

SOURCE Cat Financial

Source: PR Newswire

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