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GREENSBORO – Guilford Technical Community College recently opened its first "green" building.

Now the college is hoping to bring in some big awards for taking care of the environment.

The Greensboro Campus Center, the newest addition to GTCC, has 45,000 square feet of classrooms and common areas – and it's all energy efficient.

"It had to do with the economy," said Dan Sitko, director of construction. "We are getting less and less dollars and asked to do more and more."

He says from the site selection to the water supply, this building is not only energy efficient, it's also cost efficient.

"It makes sense – dollars and cents – for us to do this and we notice in the economy that we operate the buildings," said Sitko.

The $7 million building is the only LEED certified building on GTCC's campus, but school leaders say it won't be the last.

"We have a building that's just being completed on our High Point campus that is LEED silver, we have one planned for our aviation campus that will be LEED platinum and we are also designing our northwest campus that will be LEED platinum," said Sitko.

Renovations to other campuses will also be energy efficient. It's a big task that leaders hope will make for a better learning environment.

GTCC hopes to earn an energy design award for the Greensboro Campus Center. It could take up to one year before federal officials announce winners.