Hockey arena scores LEED points

The Showare Center on opening night.

Washington state will likely gain bragging rights for housing the United States' first sports arena designed to meet Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards.

Fresh on the heels of the completion of a LEED-certified sports arena in Canada, the Showare Center in Kent, Wash., is likely to become the nation's first U.S. arena to garner LEED–Silver certification by the U.S. Green Building Council. The building's management has already confirmed 36 LEED points, putting it just three points away from the Gold standard, according to Beth Sylves, spokeswoman for the Showare Center.

Home to the Seattle Thunderbirds, a minor league hockey team, the $84.5 million arena designed by Seattle-based LMN Architects can hold as many as 7,300 spectators. It was designed to use 40 percent less water and 37 percent less energy than a building constructed to meet national codes. In addition, 90 percent of construction debris was recycled, Sylves says.

Housing a hockey team presented LMN Architects with unique challenges. It's standard practice to make the ice at the start of a hockey season in September and keep it covered when not in use until the end of March. While it may save water use, it takes a lot of energy to heat both the air above the ice and the concrete floor below it.

But at Showater, the heat rejected from making the ice is captured and piped through that floor to keep it heated and protected. Additional waste heat from the ice-making process is used to melt ice shavings from resurfacing the ice.

The developers looked outside the arena for points as well. Nearly 10 percent of the 850 on-site parking spots are reserved for carpools of four or more people and drivers of low-emission vehicles. There are also a plethora of bike racks and showers available for arena employees who bike to work.