The U.S. Green Building Council's new headquarters in Washington, D.C., Citi's new data center in Frankfurt, Germany, and now the new data center for the education services company ACT offer striking images of what it takes to achieve the highest LEED rating for a green building.

Having outgrown its old digs, the USGBC took the opportunity to craft its new headquarters to meet the design standards of LEED 2009 and was the first project to be certified under the updated USGBC rating system.

The 75,000-square-foot office that occupies two stories of 2101 L. St., NW, in Washington, D.C., attained 94 points of the 110 points possible in the Leadership for Energy and Environmental Design rating system. The threshold for Platinum certification is 80 points.

That level of certification calls for sharp reductions in energy and water use when compared to traditional structures of similar size, aggressive resource and waste management and a strong educational component for building occupants and visitors.

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