Today is Earth Day -- you can't miss it, if you read the newspaper comic pages -- and a St. Paul building will be honored this morning for its state-of-the-art energy efficiency, even though it is nine years old.

Without any retrofitting, Securian's 401 Building recently received LEED certification for existing buildings; Securian says it's the first commercial office building in either the St. Paul or Minneapolis central business district to earn such a rating.

LEED is the Leadership in Environmental and Energy Design certification given by the  U.S. Green Building Council.

Some of the environmentally sustainable features of the 401 Building:

• Computerized HVAC systems shut down when no one is present.   
• Lights go out when no one is present or the natural light is bright.   
• No boilers or chillers. Securian uses power from District Energy, which uses a renewable energy source: clean urban wood waste. 
• Computerized elevators allocate cars for optimum efficiency.
• Planting beds are irrigated with collected water run-off.

The award will be presented at an 11 a.m. event today in the ground floor atrium of the building at Robert and 6th Sts. in downtown St. Paul.