A full list of the buildings can be found at :
http://www.vancouver2010.com/more-2010-information/sustainability/sustainable-venues/
There were a ton of changes and improvements made to all buildings and sites used for the Games, but I wanted to post a few of the changes I read that I thought were cool...
The Richmond Olympic Oval has a BC Pine-Beetle wood roof. It's made from BC wood that's been destroyed by the Pine Beetle infestation. VANOC targeted LEED "Silver" green building certification for this facility.
http://www.venueenergytracker.com/
This is an image showing the amount of electricity used for the Richmond Olympic Oval during a 1 week period during the games. The blue curve shows the original electrical consumption amounts (total would've been 1,299 kW), while the green curve shows what the amount of consumption would have been had they not involved sustainable practices (total actually was 1,104kW). I think this is pretty cool...
Many of the buildings including the Vancouver Olympic Centre, are re-using rainwater. It is collected and re-used for flushing water efficient toilets, and reducing the amount of potable water used at this venue. VANOC targeted LEED "Gold" green building certification for this facility.
The Whistler Creekside had a Wildlife Management plan prior to the building of the area where alpine skiing events would be taking place; avoiding and minimizing harming wildlife, aquatic, and terrestrial habitats. For example, a tailed frog management plan was implemented during construction which meant relocating hundreds of tadpoles and adult frogs to protect them from potential construction impacts.
The Whistler Sliding Centre where the bobsleigh, luge, and skeleton competitions take place has been made to be Energy Efficient. By using trees throughout the site to cast shade, a weather protection and shading system that covers most the track, and by painting the track white to minimize heat absorption they've been able to maintain ice track temperatures and reduce the energy demand on the refrigeration system. VANOC targeted LEED "Silver" green building certification for the centre.
The only thing I'm a bit confused about is there are 4 levels of LEED certifications (Certified, Silver, Gold, and Platinum), so why are all the venues certified only at Silver and Gold levels, and not at Gold and Platinum? Fair enough that not all the already existing venues could've been improved that drastically, but the new buildings built specifically for the Olympics, if they had to build them brand-new anyways why didn't they make them Platinum certified?
