Last week, the city of San Francisco announced the grand opening of the Greenest Urban Office Building in North America. The new San Francisco Public Utilities Commission Building (SFPUC) boasts new Living Machine technology, as well as LEED Platinum standards.
The 13-floor building can hold around 900 people, but consumes 60% less water and 32% less energy than most buildings of its kind. The building can achieve these high levels of conservation due it its on-site grey and black water treatment.
The technology for this treatment, The Living Machine, reclaims and treats all of the building’s wastewater– meeting the demand for all of the buildings toilets. The Living Machine can treat 5,000 gallons of water daily, reducing per-person water use from 12 to five gallons. The building also has a rainwater harvesting system that can store up to 250,000 gallons of water annually for use in the building’s irrigation systems.
As far as power goes, the building uses a greenhouse gas-free power from the Hetch Hetchy Reservoir, but also has an integrated hybrid solar array as well as a wind turbine that can generation about seven percent of the building’s annual energy needs.
The building was designed with a raised flooring system to house its data and ventilation infrastructure that also reduces heating, cooling and ventilation costs by over half. They also plan to do the more simple things, like automatically shut off workstation power after business hours, use more sustainable building materials, and limit parking to encourage alternative transportation among employees.
“The unique hybrid wind-solar installation combined with the use of onsite, recycled wastewater makes 525 Golden Gate one of the most self-sustaining buildings anywhere in the world,” said SFPUC General Manager Ed Harrington as part of the announcement. “We did not spare any detail to demonstrate the water-saving and energy efficiency revolution that all of us must start to embrace.”
However, the building cost the city a whopping $146.5 million– which brings back the argument between building new energy efficient buildings, or spending the money to make the ones we already have perform better. There isn’t a right answer, what’s probably best is for there to be a combination of the two– a new building should be built to high energy standards, but some time and resources should be taken to reboot the clunky power-wasters that remain in every city.
Employees are set to move in to their new space in July and August, and the building is set to be on track for its Platinum LEED ranking within a year of operation. The SFPUC estimates that building and owning its new headquarters will allow the department to save residents around $3.7 billion over the expected 100 year life of the building. +
--
Beth Carter is a contributing editor for SmartPlanet.
Related Stories
| Jan 6, 2012
Gensler unveils restoration and expansion of Houston's Julia Ideson building
The "new" building will serve as a repository of Houston memorabilia and rare archival material as well as the city's official reception space and a venue for exhibits, meetings and other special events.
| Jan 6, 2012
New Walgreen's represents an architectural departure
The structure's exterior is a major departure from the corporate image of a traditional Walgreens design.
| Jan 6, 2012
Summit Design+Build completes Park Place in Illinois
Summit was responsible for the complete gut and renovation of the former auto repair shop which required the partial demolition of the existing building, while maintaining the integrity of the original 100 year-old structure, and significant re-grading and landscaping of the site.
| Jan 4, 2012
Siemens acquires Pace Global Energy Services
Acquisition will enhance portfolio with new energy consulting and management services.
| Jan 4, 2012
Shawmut Design & Construction awarded dorm renovations at Brown University
Construction is scheduled to begin in June 2012, and will be completed by December 2012.
| Jan 4, 2012
Skanska acquires Industrial Contractors
Industrial Contractors Inc. is a contractor in the commercial, industrial and power markets of the Midwest. The company employs 2,400 people and in 2011 the revenues are estimated to be approximately $500 million.
| Jan 4, 2012
HDR to design North America’s first fully digital hospital
Humber River is the first hospital in North America to fully integrate and automate all of its processes; everything is done digitally.
| Jan 4, 2012
New LEED Silver complex provides space for education and research
The academic-style facility supports education/training and research functions, and contains classrooms, auditoriums, laboratories, administrative offices and library facilities, as well as spaces for operating highly sophisticated training equipment.
| Jan 3, 2012
Gilbane awarded $88M Contract for Ohio elementary school construction
The new award, which comprises the construction of five new elementary schools and demolition of 11 older facilities, is the latest K-12 building program managed by Gilbane for the Ohio School Facilities Commission since 1998.
| Jan 3, 2012
AIA's ABI November Index reaches 52.0
The Architecture Billings Index (ABI) reached its first positive mark since August.
