Taking a LEED in Sports at UConn

The Chronicle has learned through painful experience to avoid endorsing claims of “firsts” in higher ed. Too often, it turns out that the latest claimed first is actually the first in the Northeast, or the first in Arkansas, or the first in Yeehaw Junction, Florida. (That last is a real town, by the way.)

So we hang this out there with some trepidation: The University of Connecticut says that its new athletic building is the first athletic structure to earn a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design rating — in this case, a silver one.

Among the “green” features of the building, according to a press release: open space on the site, including rain gardens and bio-retention swales; high-efficiency radiant heat in the training center; lots of insulation and efficient windows; and a green construction process that included the use of recycled materials. The synthetic turf of the indoor field was made of rubber from shredded tires and sneaker soles.