PEORIA, Ill., Feb. 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The Caterpillar Administration Building, which serves as the company's world headquarters, has been awarded LEED-EB® O+M (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design for Existing Buildings: Operations and Maintenance) Gold certification from the United States Green Building Council (USGBC). Achieving the certification makes the Caterpillar facility, located in downtown Peoria, the first building in Illinois outside of the Chicago metropolitan area to become LEED-EB certified and the second building in the Caterpillar family to earn the recognition. The Cat Financial Center in Nashville, Tennessee, received LEED-EB certification in April of 2009. LEED is a third-party certification program and a recognized benchmark for the design, construction and operation of high-performance green buildings. LEED-Gold certification is the second highest rating obtainable in the system.

LEED promotes a whole-building approach to sustainability by recognizing performance in five key areas: sustainable sites, water savings, energy and atmosphere, materials and resources and indoor environmental quality.

"Every day members of Team Caterpillar look for opportunities to apply their expertise, technology and common sense to address environmental issues," said Greg Folley, vice president of Caterpillar's Human Services Division. "Successfully identifying and managing our environmental footprint reduces environmental impacts where we all live and work, makes good business sense and is simply the right thing to do for our community, employees, customers and shareholders."

  Specific highlights include:
  --  Decreased energy consumption by 40 percent through improved control
      systems, operating methods, and lighting automation.
  --  Implemented a new irrigation system for all landscaped areas resulting
      in a 50-percent water use reduction
  --  Implemented a green cleaning program with new environmentally-friendly
      chemicals and developed an improved pest management program utilizing
      the least toxic methods.
  --  Leveraged Caterpillar's purchasing and recycling practices to reduce
      the environmental impact of materials used and conducted waste stream
      audits to drive continuous improvement efforts.


More information on the LEED green building certification system is available at www.usgbc.org/LEED.

About Caterpillar:
For more than 80 years, Caterpillar Inc. has been making progress possible and driving positive and sustainable change on every continent. With 2009 sales and revenues of $32.396 billion, Caterpillar is the world's leading manufacturer of construction and mining equipment, diesel and natural gas engines and industrial gas turbines. The company also is a leading services provider through Caterpillar Financial Services, Caterpillar Remanufacturing Services, Caterpillar Logistics Services and Progress Rail Services. More information is available at http://www.cat.com/.