State completes first 'green' office building

I am eager to see the new generation of green buildings, the nickname often assigned to construction that incorporates principles of sustainable design. Sustainable design uses processes and technologies that work with nature and create a sense of community, both inside and outside the building.

The state of Missouri recently completed its first green office building, the Lewis and Clark State Office Building, which is 120,000 square feet and will house more than 385 employees from the Missouri Department of Natural Resources. This construction, which was designed by BNIM Architects in Kansas City, includes a variety of features that are designed to minimize the building’s impact on the environment.

Energy

The building faces into the southern path of the sun. The majority of the building’s occupants will have natural sunlight, a technique known as daylighting. External light shelves protruding from the front of the building and light shades inside the building perform two functions: reflecting sunlight deeper into the building’s interior and shading external windows during the most extreme summer sun angles. The building integrates high-efficiency internal lighting with motion sensors and mechanical systems with daylighting, to cut energy costs. Photovoltaic solar roof collectors will supply approximately 2.5 percent of total building energy usage. Energy software modeling of the daylighting and HVAC system estimates the new building will save between $85,000 and $92,000 per year in energy costs.

Water and recycling

The design also features several water-saving measures, including waterless urinals and a below-ground gray water cistern that will collect rain water from the roof to flush toilets. The cistern will use a sand and ultraviolet filtering system to treat water as it is being collected and stored. Planners also selected materials with high-recycled content and designed the interior of the building to encourage recycling by occupants.

Sustainable or green design is not limited to new buildings. As the (SBJ) article notes, many existing buildings are being retrofitted to be more environmentally friendly. Our department recently updated one of its office buildings to increase the facility’s energy efficiency. We were able to cut this 24-year-old building’s energy costs in half. We earned the Missouri state government’s first Energy Star label for a state office building.

The renovations at the building included installation of high-efficiency lighting fixtures, motion sensor controls, LED exit signs, ground-source heat pump systems and high-efficiency office equipment. Based on energy usage studies conducted by the Missouri Energy Center, energy costs for the 41,500-square foot building fell from $2.12 per square foot between 1995 and 1997 to a current level of 74 cents per square foot. These upgrades are expected to save $55,000 annually. The changes also are expected to eliminate more than 3 million pounds of carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide and oxides of nitrogen emissions through decreased electricity demands.

The economic advantages of construction and renovation like this are encouraging the growth of sustainable design. I’d like to congratulate and thank the forward-thinking groups who are leading this effort by choosing these designs for their own homes and offices. The Discovery Center, for example, is helping make the concepts of sustainable design tangible for the public by putting them to work in its own facility.

In the future

The U.S. Green Building Council reports that there are about 120 certified Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design green buildings in the United States, and another 1,400 in the design phase. While sustainable design may seem innovative today, it is our hope that in 10 years, it’ll seem commonplace. More information is available on the Internet through the U.S. Green Building Council at www.usgbc.org and through the U.S. Department of Energy at www.energystar.gov.

Steve Mahfood is the former director of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources, a position he left Dec. 31.

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