Next he pushed executives to develop a new marketing strategy based on energy conservation, again building off the experience at APC, which came to dominate the data-center business by developing new products, including cooling systems that adjust themselves to the demands of individual server racks.

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LEED, or Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, is program administered by the U.S. Green Building Council that awards points for buildings that incorporate various energy efficiency and water conservation features as well as providing such things as bike racks.

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Spread over nine equally-weighted categories, the scorecard rates colleges on factors like sustainable policies by administration, commitment to energy efficiency and conservation, food and recycling policies, campus-wide green building initiatives, student involvement, alternative transportation.

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Other resource-efficient projects like New York's 4 Times Square office building, Atlanta's EarthCraft House and Village Habitat Design's cohousing conservation communities include such innovations as energy-efficient insulation, water and air filtration, or hydronic heating, aiming for healthy, nontoxic construction processes and buildings for humans and the environment.

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