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American Honda Motor Co., Inc. today announced that its regional parts distribution centers in Gresham, Oregon, and Davenport, Iowa, each have earned a U.S. EPA Energy Star award for energy-efficient operations.  The Oregon and Iowa parts centers join two Honda automobile manufacturing plants in Ohio that recently received Energy Star recognition from the U.S. EPA. 

The Gresham facility, which in 1999 became the first mixed-used industrial building in America to earn LEED Gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council, is one of eleven LEED-certified Honda "green buildings" in North America.  The 211,000 -square-foot facility was upgraded to LEED-Platinum status in 2008, the first building in the U.S. automotive industry to reach platinum status

The Davenport, Iowa facility now utilizes more energy-efficient T8 lamps in office areas and T5 lamps with motion sensors in the warehouse.  Exterior lighting is controlled by a state-of-the-art digital lighting management system connected to the building automation system.  Since the completion of these upgrades, annual energy consumption at the 291,600-square-foot facility has been reduced by more than 922,000 kWh, or 31 percent, from previous levels, cutting yearly CO2 emissions by an estimated 766 metric tons.

Employing a number of innovative design features including rainwater harvesting, passive heating, and an air-conditioning system that can be driven by roof-mounted wind turbines, the Gresham facility also has an east-west orientation to reduce solar loading, radiant in-floor heating, and sensor-controlled lighting and air-conditioning systems that turn themselves off when people are absent.  Recycled and recyclable materials are used throughout the facility.  Chair seats are made from recycled seatbelts; conference table tops from crushed sunflower seeds; flooring from recycled automobile tires; and wallpaper from recycled telephone directories.

Since receiving LEED-Platinum certification in 2008, Honda has completed several projects to further reduce energy consumption at the Gresham facility.  These include more energy-efficient, sensor-activated warehouse lighting; zone lighting controls in the office area; a sub-metering electricity monitoring system to track energy consumption in the warehouse, office, training center and mechanical equipment areas; and intelligent control of exterior lighting.  Since 2008, average yearly energy consumption at the facility has been reduced by 384,000 kilowatt-hours (kWh) for a total reduction in CO2 emissions of approximately 150 metric tons over the past five years.

More than 2,200 individuals have toured the facility since 2002, including visitors from the Harvard Business School, the U.S. Department of Energy, Environmental Protection Agency and General Services Administration, and various private companies, and from as far away as Japan, China and India.

Over the past two decades, Honda has been incorporating sustainable concepts into facility construction and operation, including the use of locally harvested and manufactured construction materials, cool roofs, dual-paned glass, high-recycled-content materials, and energy-efficient lighting. In 2011, Honda certified three new facilities under the U.S. and Canada Green Building Councils' Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program. Honda now has 11 LEED-certified green buildings in North America, the most of any automaker operating in the region.  Click here to learn more about Honda's "Green Building" and "Green Factory" initiatives.

Honda Environmental Leadership
Honda is a leader in the development of leading-edge technologies to improve fuel efficiency and reduce CO2 emissions. Honda has led the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) rankings of overall vehicle environmental performance since 2000, and a Honda vehicle has topped the list of America's greenest vehicles from the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) for eleven out of the past twelve years.

In 2006, Honda became the first automaker to announce voluntary CO2 emissions reduction targets for its global fleet of automobile, powersports and power equipment products and its global network of manufacturing plants. Today, the company is striving for even greater reductions in CO2 emissions that contribute to global climate change, while also working to minimize waste, water use and the total environmental footprint of its operations worldwide.

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"Our Gresham facility has long been at the forefront of Honda's 'green building' initiatives in the U.S., and it is breaking new ground again as one of the first non-manufacturing Honda facilities in America to earn an Energy Star award," said Garth Sellers, corporate manager of national facility services at American Honda Motor Co, Inc.  "These awards reflect positively on Honda's longstanding effort to reduce the environmental impact of our business operations in North America."

Media Contact Information:
Marcos Frommer (American Honda Motor Co., Inc.): 310-781-5542

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