DALLAS -- A new North Texas animal shelter said it is adopting earth-saving practices to give animals a better shot at life, NBC 5 reported.

The long-awaited Dallas Animal Services and Adoption Center, located just off Interstate-30 on Westmoreland, is a multimillion dollar, 52,000 square foot facility capable of housing up to 800 animals.

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"This is a brand new, state-of-the-art environmentally friendly facility, and if I was an animal, this is where I'd want to come," said Paul Curington, Dallas Animal Services operations Manager. "We needed something that would benefit the animals, as well as staff taking care of the animals, as long as they're with us."

Natural lighting brightens the entire building, and each kennel, while cutting energy costs, as motion detector lights and tubular lights add to the energy savings. Exercise areas use compost and native landscaping, and recycled materials are used in kennels, countertops, even the upholstery.

"All furniture is green guard certified ... recycled material," said Robert Van Buren, a senior architect with Dallas Department of Public Works. "We looked for opportunities and tried to work with those."

The city architects even used environmentally safe paints and flooring.

"VOCs are the smells you notice in a new building or car," Van Buren said. "They can be harmful so we use green paints and solvents so air quality is more pleasing."

Cleaning kennels uses an extraordinary amount of water, but city water will not be used at this shelter. Instead, planters in the parking lot have a secret identity-- they are part of a wastewater treatment system than cleans and re-uses up to 10,000 gallons of water a day.

"Creating a building whether they're two-legged or four-legged is for everyone's benefit and we hope it'll make for happier animals and promote adoption," Curington said.