Bragging rights for new green buildings are claimed with increasing fervor these days. We were reminded recently of one local project that deserves more recognition than it has thus far received for its sustainable qualities.

Who would guess that the first officially green building in Rhode Island is not in East Greenwich, or some other fancy-pants suburb, or at Brown or on the University of Rhode Island campus in Kingston? No, it is in South Providence.

The South Providence Development Corporation was recently granted a silver certificate in LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) for its 17 Gordon Avenue Business Incubator. The project was led by former state Rep. Joseph Newsome. Completed in 2003, it uses solar energy, toilets that flush with collected rainwater, a “living roof” and other features that reduce its use of energy.

The LEED process failed, however, to recognize one sustainable aspect, which is that the building is a mill built in the early 1900s. If it were a new building, all of the energy-saving devices that get points in the LEED process would have taken a long time to make up for the energy used to build it.

Perhaps soon, LEED will evolve to include credit for preservation and reuse of existing buildings as major factors in creating a more sustainable environment. Only then will cutting down more trees in the suburbs and putting in yet more box-like buildings surrounded by parking lots recede.