Working with Natural Assets to Build AMD Lone Star

The new Austin location, AMD Lone Star, is raising the bar on sustainable design and building green. AMD is spending approximately $11.5 million on innovative environmental measures and enhancements to make the new campus a model of responsible development.

AMD has conducted intensive, comprehensive, creative sessions involving a team of nationally recognized ecological, architectural, engineering, and environmental building experts, known as a "charrette" process, to analyze the unique characteristics of this property and identify specific development methods to protect the environment, our employees' health and to conserve natural resources.

Each building on the Lone Star site will have specially designed roofs that will collect rainwater into a series of cisterns spread throughout the campus. Collected rain water will be used for irrigation, and since the campus' native landscape will have low water needs, the additional collected rainwater will be used to help cool the buildings — cutting down on both electricity and water use. Once the filtered rain water has cycled through the system, it is then evaporated back into the atmosphere where it will collect and eventually fall back to earth as rain.

In addition, AMD is seeking LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Gold certification by the U.S. Green Building Council. This level of sustainable design has only been achieved by one building in all of Texas and represents a groundbreaking commitment for a major corporate facility. AMD is working with architects, developers, hydrologists, structural and environmental engineers, and green building experts to achieve this goal.