By January 2010, University employees and researchers will be able to park their cars in Duke's first "green" garage.

The new Sands Parking Garage will not only house 1,920 vehicles, but also will be eco-friendly as part of Duke's sustainability program. Construction began on the seven-level garage at the intersection of Erwin Road and Research Drive in June 2008, according to an April 7 Duke News release. The project will cost $43 million, Dudley Willis, project manager for the construction, wrote in an e-mail.

The garage is predicted to free up parking spaces in the Parking Garage II, LaSalle Street, Hock Plaza and Circuit Drive parking lots, which currently have 1,800 people on the waiting list to park, according to a University release.

"The main goal was just to create a parking facility," Willis said in an interview. "We are taking special effort to make it as green as possible."

These efforts include hanging canopies that will grow plants to provide shade and the use of energy-efficient LED lights to illuminate the garage, Melissa Harden, assistant director of Parking and Transportation Services, wrote in an e-mail. In addition, two 10,0000-gallon cisterns will collect rain that falls on the facility's roof and the accumulated water will be used to irrigate landscaping surrounding the structure.

The garage will also include features that encourage users to alter travel habits to reduce their carbon emissions. Some parking spaces will be reserved for carpool, low emissions and hybrid vehicles, Harden said.

Plans to make the parking garage eco-friendly are part of Duke's campus initiative to make all buildings sustainable and environmentally friendly, Willis said.

Furthermore, officials said they hope the parking garage will be considered for a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification by the United States Green Building Council.

"LEED is a third-party certification program and the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings," Tavey Capps, Duke's environmental sustainability coordinator, wrote in an e-mail.

There are four different levels of LEED recognition and certification, Willis said. Although the recognition that officials are seeking for the new garage is the lowest of the four, merely obtaining certification would be notable, he added.

"No garage in the United States has ever been certified," Willis said. "We think we can meet the base criteria to get the garage certified, but it will be up to [USGBC]."

Duke has more than 20 buildings in some phase of LEED certification, Executive Vice President Tallman Trask wrote in an e-mail. The Smart Home, completed in 2007, was the first residence to earn LEED's "platinum" status, he added. The certification of Sands Parking Garage will be decided after the project is completed next year.

But junior Yishan Cheng, co-president of Duke's Environmental Alliance, said the certification does not necessarily indicate every aspect of a building is environmentally friendly.

"[The certification] really doesn't make the project any greener. That's just my opinion," Cheng said. "I think it's a really great project, and I'm happy Duke is doing it as a statement."

The materials used in construction are more reflective of the building's environmental impact, she added.

Willis said the building supplies will not be entirely eco-friendly.

"Basically it's concrete and steel so there are not a lot of opportunities there for eco-friendly materials," he said.