11.16.2006 - 10:08am ET

(CSRwire) DENVER, CO, NOVEMBER 15, 2006--Leonardo Academy announced today that the U.S. Green Building Council's (USGBC) Annual Greenbuild International Conference & Exposition has earned event certification under Leonardo Academy's Cleaner and Greener® / Health and Climate Care Program. For the fifth consecutive year, Leonardo Academy has donated its Cleaner and Greener® services to the USGBC for calculating emissions, gathering emission offsets, and certifying the level of offsets achieved.

For this year's conference in Denver, Colorado, the current emission offsets donated have offset 100 percent of the carbon dioxide emissions and average of 65 percent of each of the other types of emissions from projected Greenbuild energy use.

The Cleaner and Greener® Program certifies organizations and events for offsetting emissions from energy use. This program addresses emissions that impact human health and climate. Michael Arny, President of Leonardo Academy, said, "Sustainability is the lens that shows us that we need to reduce all the interconnected environmental impacts we cause through our activities. Focusing on one element to the exclusion of others is a large part of the environmental issue that sustainability is helping us solve."

Projected Greenbuild energy use and emissions were prepared by Leonardo Academy. Leonardo Academy is gathering donations of emissions offsets from both companies and individual donors to offset Greenbuild emissions. Large emission reduction donors for this event include Milliken & Company, Wind Current, Sterling Planet, Green Mountain Energy Company, Dupont, National Offsets, Philips Lighting, Johnson Controls, and Leonardo Academy. Greenbuild attendees also have the opportunity to offset their personal attendance emissions through charitable contributions toward the purchase of emission offsets.

Michael Arny said, "We are proud of our Cleaner and Greener® collaboration with the USGBC. Achievements of this collaboration include offsetting Greenbuild emissions and educating the attendees on emission reductions and offsets. Leonardo Academy congratulates USGBC for its offset achievements for this event and thanks the corporate and individual offset donors that made these achievements possible."

Donated emission offsets will be permanently retired to offset the carbon dioxide (CO2), sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxide (NOx), particulates (PM10), and mercury (Hg) emissions from the conference facilities, travel, meals, lodging, utilities, and other potential energy use connected to the conference.

More details on the emission sources and amounts as well as the offsets donated are available on the Cleaner and Greener® website (www.cleanerandgreener.org). Following Greenbuild, the emissions and offset numbers will be updated to include the actual event attendance and additional donations made during the event.

Meeting Strategies Worldwide (www.meetingstrategiesworldwide.com) addresses additional aspects of the "greening" of Greenbuild, including waste minimization, water and energy conservation, and environmentally preferable procurement at the convention center.

ABOUT LEONARDO ACADEMY--Leonardo Academy (www.leonardoacademy.org) is a charitable (501c3) nonprofit organization that promotes sustainability. Leonardo Academy makes sustainability practical by developing and implementing integrated solutions for a more sustainable world. Leonardo Academy's Cleaner and Greener Program develops and delivers tools that promote, facilitate and measure environmental sustainability. The program specializes in developing action plans, resources, and evaluation systems that enable organizations, institutions and individuals to reduce their impacts on the natural environment.

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