A newly built high school in the Montezuma-Cortez (Colo.) District has received LEED Gold certification for its environmentally sensitive design and construction.

The Journal reports that Montezuma-Cortez High School, which opened in August 2015 in Cortez, incorporated numerous sustainable strategies in the construction of the $40 million, 152,000-square-foot facility. Among them:.

• Reducing water use by 64 percent outdoors and 40 percent indoors.
• A geothermal mechanical system and solar panels that enable the building to reduce energy consumption by more than 36 percent.
• Recycling of 90 percent of all construction waste.
• Use of recycled concrete as a base material for the parking lot.
• Building materials from regional sources accounted for more than 24 percent of the project.
• Extensive use of daylighting to illuminate classrooms and other areas.

Funding for the project came from a 2012 bond election and a state grant through the Building Excellent Schools Today (BEST) program. In accepting the BEST grant, the district was required to build a school that achieved LEED certification.

The architect for the project is Dekker Perich Sabatini.