Special Report: 11.12.2009

Posted by TED Magazine on Wednesday, November 11, 2009

WORLD’S ‘GREENEST BUILDING’ – SO TO SPEAK

An architect funds a dream -- and builds it in Oregon

By Joe Salimando

One session I surely wanted to sit in on at the World Energy Engineering Congress (Nov. 2-4, D.C.) was “Inside The World’s Greenest Building.” It was a 30-minute presentation by architect Steven Ribeiro of Oregon. It was amazing.

After detailing – and I mean detailing – all of the green aspects of the 57,000-sq.-ft. building, and going over the allotted time limit (no one seemed to mind) . . . I noted that Ribeiro had said not one thing about who owned the facility and what the financial payback might be.

So there it was: A chance for a “gotcha” question. The guy omitted the ownership/payback stuff from his presentation for a reason, right? SO: I asked who the owner was. Ribeiro provided the answer: HIM! This is an architect who is funding (with borrowed money as well as his own cash).

Then he went into the obvious follow-up (without me asking). Some of the efforts incorporated in this building would have a one-year payback, Ribeiro said. Others might have a payback in decades. Instead of analyzing each one and rejecting some, he put it all in there. The idea: The building’s operating cost would be lower to start, and lower over the years to come – as building owner, he could virtually ignore what energy prices do in the future.

Yes, that most architects have – traditionally – ignored a building’s electrical and mechanical systems, electricity prices, and the like. But here was a guy talking like an owner.

 

 

WESCO did a 20-minute vendor session (on the show floor) titled "PowerTherm Energy Solution, The Boiler That Makes Electricity!" The company's booth displayed a scale model of the system, under glass (foreground above). 

How You Get To Be ‘Greenest’

Ribeiro set out to maximize the number of “points” his building will earn under the LEED program (from the U.S. Green Building Council). There is a target, a building in Canada that has amassed the highest number of points ever earned. With his building 65% complete, he said, he’s pretty sure the Independence One building – in the Willamette Valley, outside of Salem, Ore. – will become the new “one to beat.”

How? Ribeiro has partnered with all kinds of companies; it would appear that everyone wants to get in on this parade. Schneider Electric was the first-named “solutions partner.” Johnson Controls is his general contractor. I wish I could provide more details; I took notes as fast as I could, hoping that his presentation would be on the CD included with each attendee’s packet. It wasn’t.

However, you can go over to the website for the building. Note that when I wandered over there, it included – high up on the home page – “We live in a Direct Current world.”

 

What’s So Darn Green About It?

Ribeiro earned my undying admiration when he noted that “shows like this one” (the WEEC) “are like a candy store for me.” He wanders around trade shows, asks questions, and finds products that are improvements for his “greenest” structure. One example: The elevators. The standard uses 65 horsepower. This would put a strain on the building’s electrical system, which includes 125 kW of solar and 50 kW of batteries.

Solution: Wandering around a trade show, Ribeiro said, he found a company named Kone, which makes elevators that use 12.5 HP to “do the same thing” that other elevators do. Presto-chango alakazam . . . the building now will NOT experience a huge power draw when the elevator is in use.

Obviously, with the note about DC power above, one idea implemented is to use the power generated by the PV system without double-conversion (into AC for feeding into the building, and then back to DC to power computers).

Another interesting element is the floors – an electrical revelation of sorts. If you want to minimize the amount of electricity used by lighting, you maximize daylighting . . . you’ve heard that (and there a recent TEDMAG news report discussed how Shealy Electrical Wholesalers is making use of it).

But this building (naturally) goes one step further. It’s going to make use of polished concrete floors, which – Ribeiro said – would maximize the illumination provided by what daylight actually got into the building. The cost of this high-sheen floor is maybe $4 or $5 per sq. ft., he said. Sounds expensive? Wait a minute – there’s no carpeting cost. And it reduces your up-front lighting installation cost.

Additionally, the building will be built equipped with 17 charging stations for plug-in electric vehicles.

2,000 Watts Or Bust!

How did Ribeiro come by his dedication to produce a low-energy building? After all, the idea of “net zero energy” buildings is something you hear about – as the result of government mandates. But it’s not something private entrepreneurs pursue avidly (at least, not so far).

He discussed this. He’s been influenced by something called “the 2000-watt society,” something about which I’ve previously been ignorant. Here’s the idea: Take all of the electricity generated on the planet, and divide it by all of the human beings living on the planet, and you get . . . 2,000 watts per day. That’s what you are “entitled to,” if you want to put it that way.

How is the industrialized world doing on this end? Europe is at 6,000 watts per citizen; the U.S. is at 12,000 watts. Don’t sweat it right away, the thing is a goal for the year 2050.

Finally: A skeptical reaction to what Ribeiro is doing here might be – “well, sure, it might work in Oregon, but it won’t work here.” He’s heard that and, perhaps, anticipated it. During his presentation, he said the plan is, once this concept is proven with the first building, to take it to places like Florida and Southern California (i.e., to build similar buildings, with features customized to those areas).