The University of Oregon hopes the new Student Recreation Center will receive a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Platinum certification from the state of Oregon. If this happens, UO will be one step closer to its goal of becoming a national-leading green campus.
LEED is a rating system for the design of green buildings as decided by the U.S. Green Building Council.
Buildings with a LEED Gold certification help neutralize their energy use by paying for energy-saving measures in older buildings, and they are set initially at 35 percent greater efficiency than the state code, according to the Oregon Model for Sustainable Development.
The UO Campus Plan Committee developed a Sustainable Development Guideline in 2000 to focus on green construction.
Oregon was the first university in the nation to develop a plan for the sustainable development of its campus. They set the goal to “strive to become a national leader in sustainable development,” according to the plan.
The latest update in 2005 was made to accommodate the new campus plan. Since then, the guideline has become a standard for all new developments, maintenance and renovations.
Moss Street Children’s Center, which opened its doors in 2004, was the first building designed and constructed based on the guideline. The center was designed to focus on sustainability, conservation and recycling. Due to the preservation of many trees and the usage of recycled material during the construction, the center received the Eugene Tree Foundation’s Big Leaf Award and the Oregon Environmental Council’s Eco-Healthy Childcare Award.
In the same year, the state of Oregon decided to adopt the LEED Silver certification as a standard to all new state buildings. In 2005, Lillis Business Complex became the first UO building to receive the LEED Silver designation.
But the university wasn’t satisfied.
In the summer of 2011, the university raised its bar for sustainable construction standards. The Sustainable Development Guideline was replaced with the Oregon Model for Sustainable Development — a higher standard that requires all new buildings and major renovations to achieve LEED Gold certification.
So far, four more buildings on campus have achieved LEED Silver certification or higher: Matthew Knight Arena, Cheryl Ramberg Ford and Allyn Ford Alumni Center, Knight Law Center and the Robert and Beverly Lewis Integrative Science Building.
UO has yet to achieve such standards, and the financial commitment is profound.
The updated standards are expected to add up to 6 percent in capital construction costs, or equal to as much as $10 million under the Oregon Model’s 10 year planning cycle, according to The Register-Guard.
Oregon leaves it up to the developers to decide how to actually spend the time and money to pursue a LEED certificate, Sustainability Director Steve Mital said. 
“This is definitely a strong step for the university,” Mital said.
However, not all of the developments will be applied to this standard if they have already been under construction, according to Mital. These include the renovation of Erb Memorial Union, the SRC and the Lewis Integrative Science Building. 
The SRC reopened at the beginning of winter term. It was designed and constructed with sustainability in mind from day one. The building will not only be an open and friendly place for students to hang out and exercise, but it will also be friendly with the environment, said Kevin Marbury, the director of physical education and recreation.
Student Katie Morgan works out regularly at the Rec. Morgan feels that eco-friendly developments are important, but not the most important.
“I understand that all these standards are for the environment,” Morgan said. “But I just think we have other more essential problems like hunger and such.”