GreenClips.169 06.06.01 PHARMACIA FACILITY PIONEERS GREEN LAB DESIGN Pharmacia Corp. hopes its new lab facility in Skokie, Illinois, designed by Flad & Associates, offers a lesson for the future of green design. Planning team members expect the 176,000-square-foot facility, called Building Q, to receive a silver-level Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification when the evaluation process is complete later this year. And R&D Magazine recognized Building Q's high level of energy conservation and environmental responsibility with a Special Mention award. Pharmacia expects its new R&D facility, which was transformed from an existing campus building, to save $800,000 per year in energy costs alone. The labs incorporate both heat-recovery technology and variable-air-volume (VAV) fume hoods to reduce heating and cooling costs. Sensors monitor the fume hood's sash position, calculate the open area and adjust airflow accordingly. Scott Moll of Affiliated Engineers Inc., the project's mechanical engineer, says that labs typically incorporate either heat-recovery technology or VAV fume hoods as an energy-saving measure, not both. The two atria have skylights with spectrally selective glass to provide natural light without the heat. And light shelves take light from the perimeter office windows and bounce it across a "ghost hallway" (no actual walls) to the interior labs. In addition to these green strategies, 78 percent of existing building materials were reused, saving $55,000 in landfill fees. Contract, Apr 01, p 33, by Danine Alati; Building Design & Construction, May 01, p 97, by Dave Barista; and R&D Magazine, May 01, p L11, by Julie S. Higginbotham. SUSTAINABILITY TRENDS INFLUENCING UK DEVELOPERS What is being done to persuade more UK developers of the merits of sustainability? A series of regulatory changes has, to a certain extent, focused developers on sustainability issues. The British Council of Offices, for example, has adopted the Building Research Establishment's Bream standards of environmental assessment. And the climate change levy, [a new UK energy tax designed encourage businesses to be more energy efficient], will be another factor. Clients can benefit from the media's appetite for things green, says Jonathan Lindh, a director of Leeds Environmental Design Associates, which recently received a Queen's Award for Sustainable Business. "It's more marketable and you are likely to get press coverage," he says. An increasing number of big companies are adopting corporate responsibility policies, and speculative developers will respond to this pressure, says Lindh. "What they are building will be let by an occupier," says Chris Morley of the British Property Federation. "They will want the building to be their flag and to take a responsible approach." Another factor encouraging developers to think green is a change in attitude on the part of the institutional investors that fund most speculative development. It is becoming more common practice for funds to incorporate sustainability into their balance sheets because they realize that buildings built sustainably are more likely to be leasable in 30 years. "Corporate responsibility and commercial advantage are starting to converge," Morley says. Building Design, 18 May 01, p 23, by David Blackman. GREEN BUILDINGS DEDICATED AT HIDDEN VILLA Hidden Villa, a 1,600-acre farm and wilderness preserve in Los Altos Hills, California, dedicated two buildings on this month as examples of how far green construction has come. Hidden Villa offers programs teaching environmental and multicultural awareness to children and adults. A renovated hostel and a brand-new education building showcase environmentally smart, commercially available and economically attractive construction products and methods. Both buildings were sited and designed to maximize solar efficiency. They feature interior rammed-earth walls to create thermal mass and geothermal heat pumps for radiant heating and cooling through the high flyash-content concrete floors. The hostel, designed by Arkin Tilt Architects, incorporates salvaged wood and windows from the old hostel building, and ceilings made from wheat straw composite board. The 3,300-square-foot education center, designed by the San Luis Sustainability Group, highlights sustainable building techniques, materials and systems. It includes a rooftop photovoltaic system that connects to the power grid, allowing excess generated electricity to be sold to the power company. San Jose Mercury News, 1 Jun 01, by S.L. Wykes, and Hidden Villa Web site [More: http://www.hiddenvilla.org/Assets/SusBldg.htm] DOE RELEASES ENERGYPLUS SIMULATION SOFTWARE The US Department of Energy (DOE) recently released EnergyPlus, the successor to its DOE-2 energy simulation software. For many years, DOE-2 has been the standard energy modeling tool for large buildings and the benchmark against which other simulation tools are tested. It has some weaknesses, however, including being time-consuming to use. EnergyPlus addresses some of these shortcomings. Its features include the ability to dynamically model the interactions between a building's thermal loads and the mechanical systems working to meet those loads. For information or to download the free software, go to http://www.eren.doe.gov/buildings/energy_tools/energyplus. Environmental Building News, May 01, p 5. UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN DEBUTS ENVIRONMENTAL CENTER Blending advanced manufacturing design with environmental sensitivity, an educational center opened last month at the University of Michigan-Dearborn to make automobile factories and the products they produce more recyclable, cleaner and efficient. The Environmental Interpretive Center, a $4.2-million, 12,900-square-foot facility, was first envisioned a decade ago as a setting to enhance environmental awareness of the nearby Rouge River. "One of the great attributes of the center is that it serves as both a laboratory for industry research and an educational center for the public at large," said Daniel Little, chancellor of the University of Michigan-Dearborn. A goal of the center will be to contribute research to a $2-billion renovation and expansion of Ford Motor Co.'s historic Rouge industrial complex in Dearborn. The manufacturing site, the largest industrial complex in the world when it opened in 1927, has caused major environmental damage over the years. The Environmental Interpretive Center also offers a case study for reducing energy requirements in both the construction and operation of the facility, said Carl Luckenbach of Luckenbach/Ziegelman Architects in Ann Arbor and Birmingham, who designed the center. Among the building's design features are natural ventilation, rooftop solar panels, and a system that allows rainwater to run off the roof and collect in a rock garden, where it percolates into the ground. The Detroit News, 25 May 01, by Ricardo Thomas, and Detroit Free Press, 25 May 01, by Dan Shine. [More: http://www.umd.umich.edu/dept/na/eic.html] . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 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