Check That: Verizon's New Jersey Operations Center Wins LEED Silver Honors

Verizon isn't necessarily the snuggliest of corporate entities, what with its Lee Atwater-inspired approach to advertising its FiOS cable and wireless service, less-than-friendly business practices and oligopolistic gigantism and all. But credit is due where credit is due, and Verizon earns a tip of the gbNYC cap after securing LEED Silver honors for its Basking Ridge, New Jersey corporate operations center; the Ops Center earned an Energy Star nod back in September of 2009. Impressive, but not necessarily anything new for Verizon, which has generally made a point of being a good green corporate citizen. They even have a "Green Press Kit" on their website that proclaims "environmental stewardship is ingrained in Verizon’s heritage." So there's that. So let's take a look at this building then, shall we?

First off, the Basking Ridge Op Center is -- as we say in Jersey -- "yooge." Over 3,000 employees work out of the sprawling 1.4 million square foot building. That's a lot of lights, a lot of computers and a lot of air to circulate, but Verizon tackled those problems with some state-of-the-art building management systems. Temperature sensors dictate the variations of an energy-efficient HVAC system and variable-frequency air filters ensure efficiency of heating and cooling. The usual T-5 fluorescents and LED lighting is in place, too, but the sensor-driven systems and apparent dynamism of the building management systems -- maintenance and service requirements are monitored and adapted to, for instance -- is what truly stands out. Check out Verizon's press release, and grade me on how well I managed to put it into my own words, here.

The stretch of Somerset County in which the Verizon Op Center sits is filled with just this sort of rolling corporate campus, and while most of them lack architectural charm -- Jonathan Franzen might differ, but really now -- it would be nice to see them take a page out of Verizon's book in terms of efficiency. That beige rectangle might not ever get any better looking -- although, I don't know, living walls would at least earn a gbNYC mention -- but they'll certainly seem that much more beautiful if they're not chugging carbon.