Posts tagged LEED
Rodwin Architecture and Skycastle Construction
May 30th
We visit Rodwin Architecture and Skycastle Construction in Boulder and learn about their big commitment to sustainable design and green building and how they have brought together both the design and the build sides of creating an office building or home. Scott Rodwin – President, Brandon David – Construction Contractor and Kirsten Snobeck – Senior Designer all talk about some of the jobs they do and how they can save you time, money and help keep your carbon footprint low with their environmental design.
CU’s biotechnology building earns LEED platinum rating
Oct 1st
The University of Colorado Boulder’s Jennie Smoly Caruthers Biotechnology building has received a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED, platinum rating — the highest possible evaluation — from the United States Green Building Council.
The 336,800-square-foot research and teaching facility opened in April on the university’s east campus. More than 60 faculty and 500 researchers, staff and students work inside, tackling a wide swath of challenges from cancer and heart disease to the development of new biofuels. LEED certification is a national benchmark for sustainable design, construction, operation and maintenance.
The building posed intense energy and water needs as well as complex safety requirements. “Earning a LEED platinum rating for such a large research building highlights the engineering challenges of providing safe and practical research space while ensuring the highest level of sustainability,” said Moe Tabrizi, director of campus sustainability.
The result is a building that is 30 percent more energy and water efficient than recently built buildings with a similar function. One tactic used by designers was to group labs with similar functions near each other in the building to centralize common lab equipment and maximize the efficiency of energy use, ventilation and heat recovery. The building’s mechanical and electrical systems incorporate significant energy savings and resource recovery.
The facility will have an array of large-scale, ground-mounted solar panels to help fulfill its energy needs. It also features evaporative cooling, which is the most energy-efficient cooling method in Colorado’s dry climate; daylight harvesting, lighting controls and LED technology; energy-efficient freezer compressors and lab exhaust fume hoods; low-flow plumbing and additional features.
The new building, which is prominent when accessing campus from Colorado Avenue and Foothills Parkway, also matches CU-Boulder’s distinct architectural look.
“This project demonstrates that we can achieve a high-performing, technically complex facility that blends our Tuscan Vernacular — or rural Italian — style with the demands of cutting-edge, 21st century world-class research,” said Paul Leef, campus architect.
The design team and campus engineers undertook a meticulous engineering process that combined best practices in green building, LEED requirements, and recommendations from Labs21, a program of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Department of Energy that is dedicated to improving the environmental performance of laboratories.
CU-Boulder is a sustainability leader in higher education. The campus currently has five LEED platinum rated buildings, eight gold rated buildings and one silver. The university is committed to earning gold ratings or higher for all new construction and renovations on campus.
New CU power plant aims for LEED gold certification
Aug 30th
carbon-conscious campus utility system
The first phase of construction on a University of Colorado Boulder campus utility project — which will provide efficient heating and cooling while significantly reducing the university’s carbon emissions — begins this week with utility work and construction staging on the south side of campus.
The project is expected to be complete in the winter of 2014 and involves three major components: renovation of the campus Power House on 18th Street; construction of a separate, new heating and cooling plant; and installation of new utility distribution systems.
“Safe, reliable and efficient energy is crucial for providing uninterrupted power that supports CU-Boulder’s educational and research mission,” said Steve Thweatt, executive director of Facilities Management. “This project will ensure that we can effectively consolidate the heating and cooling of a number of buildings on the Boulder campus while continuing to build our leadership in sustainability.”
The $91.1 million project, which is being funded through a combination of cash reserves and long-term debt proceeds, also will replace chiller and boiler equipment that is critical to campus operations.
Excavation will start at the beginning of September on the new heating and cooling plant, called the East District Energy Plant. Located near the Coors Events Center, the 72,000-square-foot facility will showcase energy efficiency concepts. In addition, the university is pursuing Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED, gold certification for the building. LEED certification is a U.S. benchmark for sustainable design and construction.
As part of this project, workers will begin digging at several locations around campus in September, including 18th Street and Kittredge Loop Road, to install piping to deliver chilled water needed for campus air conditioning systems. The installation will allow the Kittredge residence complex to have air conditioning for the first time.
Next fall, renovation will begin on the original campus Power House, built in 1909. The Power House includes a cogeneration plant and will have its equipment replaced and upgraded such that the facility will be able to meet approximately 50 percent of the campus’s electrical power requirements using natural gas — a method that produces fewer carbon emissions than the local utility.
“We anticipate that natural gas will be an economic energy source for the campus for the future, which can be implemented as appropriate,” said Campus Architect Paul Leef.
As part of the renovation, the plant’s exhaust waste heat will be recovered and used to provide both heating and additional electrical power without burning extra fuel. It is estimated that the renovated Power House facility, which will be renamed the West District Energy Plant, will have the capability to reduce carbon emissions by nearly 30,000 metric tons per year.
“The two plants will be connected such that when the entire system is online, the plants will work in tandem with the upgraded distribution system to deliver a high level of efficiency and reliability, helping the campus reduce its carbon footprint,” said Moe Tabrizi, director of campus sustainability.