PORTLAND, Ore.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- The Standard earned a coveted LEED Existing Buildings: Operations and Maintenance Gold Certification for its Standard Plaza home office building. Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is the U.S. Green Building Council's (USGBC) nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction and operation of high-performance green buildings.

The Standard is pleased to have the first building in Portland, Oregon, to achieve any LEED rating for the Existing Buildings: Operations and Maintenance program. Located in downtown Portland, the 217,000-square-foot, Class A home office building was originally built in 1963. The Gold Certification is the USGBC's second-highest rating.

"The LEED-certified approach to the design and renovation of existing buildings brings significant cost savings through energy efficiency - and also reflects The Standard's commitment to supporting healthy and sustainable communities where our employees live and work," said Greg Ness, president and CEO at The Standard.

Green Building Services, the sustainability consultant for the project, brought a wealth of expertise to the endeavor. "The new LEED for Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance system addresses the ongoing services required to ensure high performance over time. This shift in focus enables building owners and managers to concentrate on operational efficiencies, resulting in significant savings," said Elaine Aye, principal at Green Building Services.

LEED certification of Standard Plaza was based on a number of green design features and operational best practices that positively impact the property itself and the broader community. The sustainability programs successfully implemented at The Standard demonstrate how a building constructed 46 years ago can profitably achieve energy and resource efficiency that compares favorably with newer construction. "Gold"? highlights of the Plaza building include:

• Plumbing retrofits which are resulting in a savings of 2.5 million gallons of potable water annually
• High participation rate of building occupants utilizing alternative modes of transportation for commuting
• Secure parking for 75 bikes
• Green cleaning and recycling programs that are improving indoor environmental quality, reducing toxic chemicals and diverting waste from landfills
• Using a new "Green Lease"? that asks tenants to partner with The Standard to help with green efforts

To implement these features, The Standard invested more than $208,000 in efficiency upgrades to equipment, operations and employee practices. These improvements are expected to generate approximately $111,000 in annual savings, and have a simple payback period of 1.9 years. The energy performance of the building rates in the top 20 percent of similar facilities nationwide and has earned the EPA's Energy Star label, reflecting the company's commitment to being a smart energy consumer. By making the energy-saving improvements to the Plaza, The Standard estimates it will save the company approximately $1.3 million in utility and operational savings over the next 15 years.

The Standard is not new to the LEED certification process. In October 2008, The Standard's Tanasbourne Home Office Building Two, located in Hillsboro, Oregon, earned a LEED Gold rating for new construction.

"With each new LEED-certified building, we get one step closer to USGBC's vision of a sustainable built environment within a generation,"? said Rick Fedrizzi, President, CEO & Founding Chair, U.S. Green Building Council. "As the newest member of the LEED family of green buildings, Standard Plaza is an important addition to the growing strength of the green building movement."?

Team Credits

Green Building Services - Sustainability Consultant

ABM Janitorial - Green Cleaning Contractor

Walsh Construction Co. - General Contractor

Summit Building Engineering - Energy Auditing / Commissioning Agents

About The Standard

StanCorp Financial Group, Inc., through its subsidiaries marketed as The Standard "? Standard Insurance Company, The Standard Life Insurance Company of New York, Standard Retirement Services, StanCorp Mortgage Investors, StanCorp Investment Advisers, StanCorp Real Estate and StanCorp Equities "? is a leading provider of financial products and services. StanCorp's subsidiaries serve approximately 8.3 million customers nationwide as of June 30, 2009, with group and individual disability insurance, group life, AD&D, vision and dental insurance, retirement plans products and services, individual annuities and investment advice. For more information about The Standard, visit its website at www.standard.com.

About Green Building Services, Inc.

One of the nation's most comprehensive sustainable development consulting firms, Green Building Services Inc. helps clients successfully adopt green building and facility management practices. With offices in Portland, Sacramento, Orlando and Houston, GBS serves clients across the United States as well as in Canada, Latin America and the Far East. To date, the company has managed the certification of 140 LEED projects and has well over 300 other green building projects in process. To learn more visit www.greenbuildingservices.com or contact 866-743-4277.

About LEED

The voluntary third-party LEED^® (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Green Building Rating System™ is a feature-oriented rating system that awards buildings points for satisfying specified green building criteria. The six major environmental categories of review include: Sustainable Sites, Water Efficiency, Energy and Atmosphere, Materials and Resources, Indoor Environmental Quality, Innovation and Design. Certified, Silver, Gold and Platinum levels of LEED green building certification are awarded based on the total number of points earned within each LEED category. LEED can be applied to all building systems including new construction, commercial interiors, core and shell developments, existing buildings, homes, neighborhood developments, schools and retail facilities.

About the U.S. Green Building Council

The U.S. Green Building Council is a nonprofit membership organization whose vision is a sustainable built environment within a generation. Its membership includes corporations, builders, universities, government agencies and other nonprofit organizations. Since USGBC's founding in 1993, the Council has grown to more than 13,000 member companies and organizations, a comprehensive family of LEED^® green building rating systems, an expansive educational offering, the industry's popular Greenbuild International Conference and Expo (www.greenbuildexpo.org) and a network of 72 local chapters, affiliates and organizing groups. For more information, visit www.usgbc.org.





The Standard

General Media

Bob Speltz, Director, Public Affairs, 971-321-3162

bspeltz@standard.com

or

Investor Relations and Financial Media

Jeff Hallin, Assistant Vice President, Investor Relations, 971-321-6127

jhallin@standard.com



Source: The Standard