Random House's Manhattan office (and world headquarters), at 1745 Broadway, is officially a green building. The structure has been bestowed with the environmentally-friendly LEED designation--standing for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. The distinction is handed out by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and the office is one of only two structures in Manhattan, along with the New York Mercantile Exchange, to have earned the tag in the "existing building" category, according to RH. The building is six-years-old.

The process to earn the certification took approximatley six months, explained Mariella Molloy, v-p of corporate services, the division of the company that has worked to institute and oversee green office policies. Noting that LEED promotes a "whole-building approach" in its assessment, Molloy said the company won points for everything from energy efficiency--RH relies on an energy provider that delivers 15% wind energy and the company, within the last two years, replaced 4,000 60-watt bulbs with 25-watt ones--to removing all styrofoam and plastic ware from its cafeteria. (Diners now use silverware.) The latter, Molloy explained, is something that would fall into the "innovation" category. In this area the company has also done such things as add bike racks for employees (thereby promoting employees to rely on more environmentally-friendly transportation options) and adding techno trash bins--used for recycling devices like cell phone as well as DVDs and CDs--to every floor of the building.

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