Georgetown Safeway On Friday, Georgetown Safeway will be receiving an award for being an environmentally friendly store, which will make it the first grocery store in the district to be given a certification by the United States Green Building Council.

The store’s environment friendly features include LED lights, fixtures for low-flow water and parking spaces for vehicles with low emissions. The store’s most noteworthy feature is its roof. The roof’s material is thermoplastic polyolefin (TPO), which minimizes heat gain and in effect provides a ‘cool’ roof. Georgetown Safeway, which is located at 1855 Wisconsin Avenue, NW, was designed by architects from Torti Gallas.

The award for environmental friendliness is one proof that Georgetown is actively participating in the country’s campaign for “green” buildings. According to Jennifer Easton, the council’s spokesperson, Georgetown has set an example that historic communities can easily adapt to the modern methods of green building. Other green buildings in Georgetown that have been noted as good examples include Georgetown University’s McDonough School for Business, the building owned by the Group Goetz Architects and the office of Hickok Cole.

LEED is the acronym for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. This is a set of standards created by the United States’ Council for Green Building. The council qualifies buildings in terms of environmental friendliness. Easton also said that Washington, DC is at the top of the list for having the most LEED-certified buildings currently. DC has 179 LEED-certified buildings, with 600 more still in the planning process.

With the 2006 Green Building Act, the number of environmentally friendly buildings is expected to increase, as the law will require new buildings to comply with LEED standards.