Public Power - September 2008 - (Page 43)

LEEDing Green BY BRIDGET MINTZ TESTA ask customers to port equipment, located in the save energy every day— basement, to be enclosed by 12 through advertising, flyers in inches of steel-reinforced conbills and tips on Web sites. crete. Safely ensconced in this “Green buildings reduce carbon Illinois Municipal Electric bunker, the control center is emissions, water and energy use Agency and Washington Pubdesigned to Federal Emerlic Utility Districts Association gency Management Agency and divert 70 percent of solid chose to lead customers by exguidelines to withstand a direct ample: by going green at their hit from an F5 tornado. waste from landfills.” company headquarters. With a $7.2 million budget Both organizations’ home and an ambitious one-year bases now meet the U.S. schedule, construction began in Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and EnvironmenAugust 2006. From the start, the general contractor, subcontractal Design (LEED) standards for minimal environmental impact. tors and even the trades people took ownership of the project. “Green buildings reduce carbon emissions, water and energy “Where we anticipated friction about paperwork and procedures, use and divert 70 percent of solid waste from landfills,” said Jason we found people very excited about participating in building a Hartke, director of advocacy and public policy for the U.S. Green green building,” said T. David Parker, project architect from the Building Council. Any green structure says something about the orfirm Melotte, Morse, Leonatti. “Harold O’Shea Builders, the conganization that built it. But when utilities build green, people sit up tractor, acted as a team member, not an employee.” and take notice. One of the main construction challenges facing the team was “These projects become demonstrations where people can see recycling 50 percent of the waste from building the structure. the benefits,” Hartke said. These “actions reverberate across com“The contractor’s project manager estimated we’d have 40 huge munities.” dumpsters,” said Parker. “We actually put out 18, and everything When IMEA’s 31 members decided that the organization else was recycled, so the savings in the dumping fees helped pay needed a new headquarters building in Springfield, they recogfor the recycling.” nized it would be the agency’s home until well into the middle of This example illustrates the financial savings green building can the 21st century. “That initial decision allowed me and my board of generate. “Green building is approaching a building holistically,” directors to take the long view and consider first the economic said Hartke. “All the people involved in construction and design value that a variety of green technologies would provide and, seccome together at the start and root out and identify potential effiond, the less tangible but no less real value we realize as a showcase ciencies.” for those technologies to other cities, towns and villages across IlliDespite two major ice storms and worse snow than usual during nois,” said Ronald D. Earl, general manager and CEO. construction, the new building was finished in 13 months at a cost To be a showcase, the building had to meet LEED standards, of $7 million, $200,000 under budget. It celebrated its grand not just for its operations, but also for construction methods. opening on Jan. 17, 2008. IMEA’s board and staff chose to aim for silver certification, the secThe most notable green feature of the new headquarters is its ond of the four LEED levels; the other three are certified, gold geothermal heating and cooling system, more specifically called a and platinum. ground source heat pump system. A $120,000 grant from the IlliFor a structure to achieve one of the four LEED levels, it must nois Clean Energy Community Foundation helped offset the win a minimum number of points across six categories: site location increased costs of the equipment compared to a conventional natand improvement; efficient water use; energy conservation and atural gas system. “We estimate a minimum savings of $6,100 a year mosphere; materials and resources; indoor environmental quality; over a conventional system,” said Doc Mueller, IMEA’s communiand, innovation and design. For the four LEED levels, the minications director. The entire system, along with a back-up diesel mum point requirements are 26 for certification, 33 for silver, 39 generator and its three-day fuel supply, is housed inside the confor gold, and 52 for platinum. crete bunker in the building’s basement. Achieving silver certification is a challenge for an ordinary office Brought in under budget on a very aggressive construction building, but the new 33,000-square foot structure is much more schedule, IMEA’s new headquarters structure shows that municithan that. The new office also houses the control center that adpally operated electric utilities can be “the leaders in low-cost, ministers delivery of electricity to 30 of the state’s municipal reliable, and to a growing degree, environmentally responsible electric utilities. That control center must operate continuously power supply and distribution,” Earl said. through any crisis. Therefore, the building design called for the Going green with its new Olympia headquarters building control center, located on the ground floor, and all associated supwasn’t a controversy for WPUDA, but coming up with the capital www.APPAnet.org SEPTEMBER 2008 43 Utilities http://www.APPAnet.org

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Public Power - September 2008

Public Power - September 2008 Contents Perspective 10 Questions What’s Good About RTOs? Capturing Coal’s Carbon Carbon Safety Valves Greater Glass, Greater Savings Getting Customers to Embrace Compact Fluorescent Lights LEEDing Green Kansas City Shows How to Build Green For Governing Boards Safety Community Broadband Hometown Connections Parting Shot

Public Power - September 2008

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