Olympic Village gets a gold medal

Beijing hasn’t medaled in air quality, but athletes at the 2008 Olympic Games are staying at a first-of-its-kind, environmentally friendly Olympic village.

The temporary home to 6,000-plus athletes and officials has been awarded LEED-Gold certification by the U.S. Green Building Council under its pilot Neighborhood Development program.

The feature-oriented rating system awards buildings points for satisfying specified green building criteria, such as using sustainable materials. Think bamboo instead of hardwood.

The village scored high enough to win the gold, which is not quite the top spot in this particular competition. That would be platinum.

-- Lauren Beale