Perdue Farms won high honors from the U.S. Green Building Council for the four year $10.5 million renovation of its 94-thousand square foot corporate headquarters in Salisbury.
It’s the first to receive the Council’s Platinum Certification for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design for buildings on Maryland’s Eastern Shore.
Jim Perdue, chair of Perdue Farms, said this was demonstration of the company’s commitment to protecting and preserving the environment.
"It's exciting, doing everything we can to make sure we're sustainable. We're protecting our resources. We're minimizing our energy resources, minimizing water usage. So, it's not an event unto itself."
Lt. Gov. Anthony Brown, a Democratic gubernatorial hopeful, was also on hand for yesterday’s ceremony and called Perdue an important partner in growing the Maryland Economy.
In revamping its headquarters the company diverted 631 tons or 97 percent of the construction debris away from landfill.
In addition, the headquarters now gets enough electricity from its nearby solar panels to generate 95 of the energy needs of the building.
Gansler On Poultry Waste
Meanwhile, attorney General Doug Gansler was on the campus of Salisbury University pushing for a way to convert waste into energy.
Gansler said he has been pushing the conversion of chicken litter to energy for some time.
The Democratic Gubernatorial hopeful emphasized that poultry litter should not be viewed as just manure but also as wood chips and other byproduct that come from raising chickens.
The Salisbury Daily Times reports that Gansler passed out a list of seven potential solutions including credit multipliers for the purchase of renewable energy from Chesapeake watershed farm waste and solar energy.
