BEIJING--Chen Zhili, head of the Beijing Olympic Village, received a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) gold award here on Wednesday presented by the U.S. Green Building Council.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson speaks during a news conference at the Beijing 2008 Olympic village in Beijing August 13, 2008. Paulson presented the village with its own gold medal on Wednesday, lauding its environmentally friendly design.[Agencies]

On behalf of the council, U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson honored the award to Chen, who is also vice president of the Beijing Organizing Committee of the 29th Olympic Games (BOCOG).

US team takes up residence: The Stars and Stripes is unfurled during a flag-raising ceremony at the Olympic village on August 5 as the US team moves in. [China Daily]

Chen noted that the concept of "Green Olympics, High-Tech Olympics and People's Olympics" has been fully implemented at the Beijing Olympic Games. The award affirmed the cooperation between China and the United States in clean energy technology for Olympic Games.

She hoped that such exchanges and cooperation could be strengthened in popularizing the technologies of energy conservation and pollutant reduction, so as to build more exemplary environment-friendly projects and contribute to sustainable economic and social development of the world.

Paulson called the village an example of U.S.-China cooperation in energy conservation and environmental protection, saying the Beijing Games have the best environmental protection in Olympic history.

The LEED gold award from the U.S. Green Building Council is very influential in the world's architecture sector.

The Beijing Olympic Village uses solar cells and geothermal heat pumps to better protect the environment.