Cornell's campus just got greener and not because of the recent unseasonably warm weather. Five of its buildings were recognized as exemplary New York state green buildings at the 10th Annual New York State Green Building Conference in Syracuse, March 29-30.

They are: the Cornell Plantations' Brian C. Nevin Welcome Center, the new Human Ecology Building, Weill Hall, the Physical Sciences Building and the New York State Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory.

The first two buildings were designed to qualify for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold certification, the U.S. Green Building Council's (USGBC) second highest honor for sustainable building design and construction, and are waiting final approval, while the latter three have already been certified as LEED Gold.

In total, 36 residential, institutional and industrial New York buildings were publicly nominated, and all were selected, for the statewide green building honor to "celebrate the diversity of green buildings," said Katherina Searing, associate director of professional education and noncredit programs at the State University of New York -- College of Environmental Science and Forestry in Syracuse, which hosted the conference in partnership with the USGBC's New York Upstate Chapter.

Notable green buildings that were also recognized included the Empire State Building and the Bank of America Tower in New York City.

Nominated buildings were required to be in New York state, built or renovated with appropriate low cost, resource efficient and sustainably designed with attention to reducing overall environmental impact, among other criteria.