Certified green: Symantec's energy and environmental practices meet the LEED gold standard

SPRINGFIELD, Jun 25, 2009 (The Register-Guard - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- SYMC | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- A tech firm's Springfield facility is the latest entry on the growing list of LEED-certified "green" buildings in the Eugene-Springfield area.

Symantec, a security software maker based in Cupertino, Calif., announced Wednesday that the U.S. Green Building Council had awarded the company's customer service center gold certification under its Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program, commonly known as LEED.

The certification recognizes that a building has met high standards for energy efficiency and other environmentally responsible practices.

Symantec is now the fourth local facility to achieve gold LEED certification, according to the building council's Web site.

The others are Royal Caribbean Cruise's call center in Springfield, and the Slocum Orthopedic Center and U.S. Federal Courthouse in Eugene. The Lillis Business complex at the University of Oregon was awarded silver LEED certification.

Kendall Toyota of Eugene also received the gold LEED certification. But the building was so close to receiving the highest-level platinum rating that the dealership has decided to take additional steps and seek that certification, said Dave Blewett, president of Kendall Auto Group,

No local buildings have achieved platinum certification.

The other buildings won LEED certification when they were constructed. Symantec sought the certification for buildings constructed years ago.

Symantec completed the first 200,000- square-foot building at its Springfield campus in 2002. Then it doubled capacity by adding a second 200,000-square-foot building in July 2006. The two buildings are connected by a long skylight.

About 1,050 to 1,100 Symantec employees work at the Springfield center, site executive Dan Oldenburg said. A total of 1,350 work at the campus, including the Symantec employees, plus contractors, vendors and temporary workers.

"We built a lot of features into the building when we designed it to be environmentally responsible, but we didn't go after LEED certification at that point," he said. "It wasn't our corporate strategy at the time."

It is part of Symantec's corporate strategy now, Oldenburg said.

The company unrolled a corporate environmental responsibility initiative last year, which set two long-term goals for the company: to reduce CO2 emissions by 15 percent globally by 2012, down from a benchmark set last year; and to bring about a dozen buildings Symantec owns up to LEED standards, he said.

Achieving LEED certification in Springfield required improving existing systems and practices, Oldenburg said.

Improvements to the heating, ventilation and air conditioning system, for example, increased the amount of air drawn from outside to heat or cool the building depending on the time of year.

New light management systems shut down lights when they are not being used. And increased education and employee involvement enabled the center to boost the amount of material it recycled to 40 cubic yards per week, up from 8 cubic yards per week.

The center also reduced waste by replacing paper plates and cups and plastic flatware with washable and reusable plastic plates and cups and metal flatware.

Symantec's business has remained strong despite the recession, and the weak economy has had "minimal impact" on the Springfield facility, Oldenburg said.

The Springfield site is a centralized hub for back-office operations, such as technical support for large accounts, information technology, and financial functions, such as accounts payable and order processing.

In general, when customers need to control expenses, they look to technology for ways to become more efficient, Oldenburg said.

Symantec reported a loss of $6.7 billion on revenues of $6.1 billion in the fiscal year ended April 3. That compares with a profit of $464 million on revenues of $5.9 billion in the fiscal year ended March 28, 2008.

But the fiscal year '09 loss was largely due to a $7.4 billion accounting charge to adjust the value of "goodwill," on Symantec's books, according to Symantec's SEC filings. Goodwill, which reflects the value of a strong brand name, or a company's proprietary technology, is an intangible asset on corporate balance sheets. It often arises when a company acquires other companies. Symantec has made a string of acquisitions in recent years.

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