World Food Prize Building to Receive "Green" Rating

In a Tuesday Oct. 16, 2012 photo, farmer and philanthropist Howard Buffett is keynote speaker for Iowa Hunger Summit, hosted by the World Food Prize. Buffett challenged all American farmers to donate the profits from at least one acre of their harvest to their local food banks in an effort to eradicate hunger nationwide. (AP Photo/The Des Moines Register, Steve Bullock)

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By Rachel Begle

Story Created: Mar 5, 2013 at 7:13 AM CDT

Story Updated: Mar 5, 2013 at 7:13 AM CDT

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) - A century-old former public library renovated to become the home of the World Food Prize Foundation has been awarded the top energy efficiency and environmental design rating.

The World Food Prize Hall of Laureates in Des Moines, which is on the National Register of Historic Places, has been awarded a LEED Platinum rating from the U.S. Green Building Council. The Washington-based nonprofit organization promotes energy-saving building construction. Only a handful of 19th century buildings in the United States have the platinum rating.

Renovation of the building, which first opened as the Des Moines Public Library in 1903, cost $30 million.

It includes high efficiency solar panels, a geothermal system to heat and cool the building, and an 8,000-gallon storm water collection and storage system used to water the gardens.

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