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JRC Awarded Platinum-Level LEED Certification! Wednesday, September 24, 2009 / 24 Elul 5768Dear Haverim,  We are delighted to announce that JRC’s new building has been awarded LEED Certification at the Platinum Level by the US Green Building Council (USGBC) – the highest level of certification for green architecture. This is a tremendous achievement for our JRC community and culminates an effort begun by our board in May 2003 when it passed a resolution to “achieve LEED certification at the highest level feasible.” We are particularly humbled that JRC is now the very first house of worship in the world to receive this designation! The USGBC is a not-for-profit organization that sets standards for green architecture. LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is the professional standard for sustainable design in the construction industry. The LEED rating system judges five environmental categories: Sustainable Sites, Water Efficiency, Energy and Atmosphere, Materials and Resources and Indoor Environmental Quality. It is a rigorous system requiring creative integrated design, detailed record keeping and a demanding submission process. There are four levels of LEED certification; Platinum is the highest, requiring fifty-two LEED points. In the end, JRC earned all fifty-three of the LEED points for which we applied! Throughout our website you'll find detailed information about all of the Green features that were incorporated into our new building, and we encourage you to read about the many complex aspects of our home that contributed to this remarkable achievement. Underlying these myriad features is JRC’s abiding commitment to the Jewish value of Bal Tashchit (the Sacred Sustainability of our World). Please join us in thanking our architects, engineers, consultants and general contractors as well as the Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation for underwriting the incremental costs of designing and engineering our new spiritual home. We deeply appreciate the monumental work of so many JRC community members and staff, project managers, JRC’s Building Task Force, Environmental Concerns Task Force, Capital Campaign and Financial Oversight Committees and many, many more who have contributed their time, thought, talent and financial support to allow us to reach this landmark. Mazel Tov to us all! Rabbi Brant Rosen and David Pinzur, President
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