FAIRFAX, VA-Virginia has claimed its first Gold LEED certified hotel: Concord Eastridge’s the Mason Inn Conference Center and Hotel, located on the George Mason University campus. The Mason Inn received its LEED certification for energy use, lighting, water and material use as well as other sustainable strategies. These included an improved thermal envelope, high-efficiency glazing and water source heat pumps, construction waste diverted from land fills to recycling agencies and at least one-third, or 32.5%, of the total building materials content by value manufactured using recycled materials.

The certification comes as the building community’s attention is refocused on the merits of sustainable development. The Obama Administration has just unveiled a Better Building Initiative to make commercial buildings 20% more energy efficient over the next decade.

Such organizations as the National Association of Real Estate Trusts and BOMA have lauded the move, pointing to the financial incentives for developers that include improved tax incentives, more financing opportunities for commercial retrofits and a training program for commercial building technology workers. The program also includes a Race to Green initiative that will offer competitive grants for state and municipal governments that streamline standards, encourage efficiency upgrades and attract private sector investment.

The program dovetails on a myriad of similar initiatives in the private sector, including the one from the USGBC and BOMA International’s 7-Point Challenge, which it launched in 2007. The challenge asked members to reduce energy consumption by 30% by 2012. According to BOMA, organizations representing three billion square feet of office space have signed onto the challenge.