Mueller Named World’s Largest LEED Gold Neighborhood

November 30, 2016

Mueller was recently recognized by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) as the largest neighborhood in the world and the first in Texas to become certified for Stage 3 LEED for Neighborhood Development (LEED ND) Gold under its pilot program. Some of Mueller’s sustainable efforts include rooftop solar panels, thousands of new trees, a water filtration system, native and adaptive plants, construction waste diverted from landfills, energy-efficient buildings, even solar public art.

LEED ND integrates the principles of smart growth, urbanism and green building into the first national system for neighborhood design. LEED certification provides independent, third-party verification that a development's location and design meet accepted high levels of environmentally responsible, sustainable development.

Here are some of the highlights of Mueller’s sustainability that led to this esteemed recognition:

• “SunFlowers-An Electric Garden,” features 15 blue metal sculptures along I-35 that collect solar energy by day and light up at night, returning excess solar energy to the grid.
• Mueller has 1,175+ single family homes that have achieved an Austin Energy Green Building rating, a nationally recognized rating system that was precursor to LEED certification.
• Mueller has three Platinum, six Gold and five Silver LEED-certified buildings and 40+ Austin Energy Green Building-rated buildings.
• Mueller builders have diverted 63,000+ tons of construction debris away from landfills.
• Mueller multi-family buildings are saving an estimated 26 percent on their indoor water use with commercial buildings saving an estimated 32 percent.
• Through a partnership with Pecan Street, Inc. and Austin Energy, Mueller has hundreds of residential rooftop solar panels and electric vehicles.
• Mueller uses native and adapted plants that require less water in all commercial, residential and park landscaping.
• Mueller is one of the first Austin neighborhoods to use the Austin Water utility’s “purple pipe” reclaimed water system.
• The Mueller Energy Center converts “waste heat” into free energy in the form of chilled water to support Dell Children’s and other nearby businesses.
• The former airport, with its few trees, is being transformed into an urban tree canopy as 15,000+ trees will be introduced by completion.
• Of its planned 140 acres of parks and open space that mitigate urban heat island, Mueller already has approximately 80 acres completed.

For more information about USGBC’s LEED ND program, click here.