UCCS: www.uccs.edu

University of Colorado at Colorado Springs
Science and Engineering Building

Participants:
Linda Kogan – Director of Office of Sustainability
Gary Reynolds – UCCS Executive Director Facilities Services
Chris Gebhart - AR7 architects
Darrell Lackey -ME Engineers
David Metcalf – Jacobs Engineering
Kate Bechtholdt – Douglass Colony Group
Alicia Seivers - Architectural Energy Corporation

Project Description:

The Science & Engineering building is the second LEED building on campus and is expected to be awarded LEED Gold certification in August 2009. The building provides much needed classrooms, faculty offices, and teaching/research laboratories while bringing together the departments of biology, physics, mechanical and aerospace engineering, the Institute for Science and Space Studies, and the CU Institute for Bioenergetics into a single facility. Joint research of these various groups will be supported by flexible research space that supports additional inter-disciplinary opportunities.

Equally important, the building functions as a destination for K-12 field trips to inspire young visitors about math, science, engineering, and computing disciplines. A dedicated K-12 welcome and orientation space provides school kids the opportunities to play with engineering and science experiments developed by UCCS students and faculty. “Imagination stations” are distributed throughout the building. Combined with view windows into various labs, an itinerary is created that highlights specific topics, ongoing research, and building systems performance. A Foucault pendulum will be installed in the three-story main atrium space as part of a public art installation by Living Lenses, a collaboration by Po Shu Wang and Louise Bertelsen.

The building, now complete, will celebrate an official opening and LEED celebration August 6, 2009.

Building Details:

Building Square Footage: 156,071
Construction Cost per Square Foot: $310
Non Renewable heating source: natural gas purchased from Colorado Springs Utilities

Introduction to UCCS and Sustainability Background

UCCS is strongly committed to increasing the sustainability of its built environment and to serve as a living learning laboratory. We want to be a demonstration campus where students and members of the community can learn and measure the performance of a variety of different renewable energy installations including solar thermal, thin film laminate, photovoltaics, as well as energy conservation and demand side management projects such as heat recovery, ice storage, and evaporative pre-cooling. There are 4 building projects on campus that will be LEED Silver or better. In 2008, students concerned with climate change and recognizing our southern exposure, passed a $5 fee per semester to install solar projects on the campus.

In 2007, more than 40 faculty, students, and staff collaborated on a comprehensive Sustainability Strategic Plan indicating specific 5-year goals and action plans. Subsequently, sustainability was included as one of 15 goals in the overall UCCS Strategic Plan. In 2006, a Minor in Sustainable Development was added and continues to draw an increasing number of students. UCCS, along with over 600 other schools, is a signatory to the American College and University Presidents Climate Commitment, which directs schools to pursue short term carbon reduction strategies as well as develop a long term plan for carbon neutrality.

1. Use of Renewable Energy

A 13.6 kW solar thin film laminate system was installed on the building roof and as of May 22 is fully operational. The system consists of 96 UniSolar, FlexLight Photovoltaic Laminate 136 Watt panels. There are three PV Powered 4,600 kW inverters. A monitoring package was included to display real time data on the performance of the system on a kiosk in the lobby of the building as well as on line. This thin film was selected for its light weight and to highlight a different form of solar technology. This is the first project that is being funded by the student fee passed for solar projects on campus. Our size was limited by the reflective roof credit for LEED and by funds available for the project. Power purchase agreements are not yet available to the Colorado Springs region, so state entities must rely solely on Governor’s Energy Office grants and utility rebates to help fund projects.

2. Environmental Impact

Energy efficient design

Mechanical
Cooling is accomplished by a number of sustainable and traditional methods. Exterior spaces have operable windows for natural ventilation and cooling. Primary cooling is delivered by air handling units that have variable speed drives and premium efficiency motors to reduce power consumption. Air is filtered with high performance filters to enhance indoor air quality. Air handlers that serve non-lab areas deliver cooling by using outside air when it is cool enough, or when it isn't, much of the air is re-circulated and cooled by coils fed from the mechanical cooling plant. CO2 sensors increase or decrease the quantity of outside air to improve indoor air quality and save energy. Air handlers that serve labs are 100 percent outside air so they, too, cool using outside air when conditions permit. Lab air handlers also cool by evaporating water into the air-stream when air is dry enough. When evaporative cooling and outdoor air are insufficient, cooling is provided by the mechanical cooling plant.

The mechanical cooling plant consists of variable speed chillers with environmentally friendly refrigerant, premium efficiency variable speed pumps, and ice storage tanks. At night when the air is cool and electric utility rates are low, the chillers build ice in the tanks. During morning and evening hours when electric rates are still low, chillers handle building cooling with standard temperature chilled water. When peak electric rates apply, the building is cooled by circulating water through the ice tanks supplemented by the chillers. Electric power use is reduced because the chillers are smaller than if ice were not available. During mild periods the building can be cooled completely by ice.

Laboratories are 100 percent exhaust and makeup air for health and safety. Heating and cooling are recovered from building exhaust air and transferred to the incoming outside air by a runaround heat recovery system to pre-cool and pre-heat air when summer and winter outdoor temperatures require conditioning. Laboratory hoods and occupied spaces are variable air volume to save power, heating, and cooling energy so only the amount of air required for occupant comfort and safety is used. At night, temperatures in the spaces and air exhausted through hoods are reduced, and during the day hood exhaust is reduced when sensors detect there are no people near the hoods. Similarly, non-lab area variable air volume boxes deliver reduced airflow to reduce energy consumption when motion sensors detect no occupants.

Heating is delivered by the boiler plant when heat recovery is insufficient. The three lead boilers are high efficiency condensing units to reduce natural gas consumption. They are supported by two efficient non-condensing boilers when more extreme winter conditions exist. Heating water pumps are premium efficiency variable primary flow.

Temperature controls are digital to optimize systems operation. Controls permit occupants to explore facets of the systems through an interactive interface. Major mechanical systems were commissioned by an independent consultant to verify they operate to their potential.

Electrical
Lighting throughout the building utilizes demand control and variable lighting levels to minimize the amount of wasted energy. Energy efficient electronic ballasts and light fixtures were selected. Light pollution to the outdoors is limited.

Other Environmental impact highlights:

Energy Optimization

• Building was designed to be 31% more energy efficient than Ashrae 90.1 minimally compliant building.

• Occupancy sensors were installed in offices to control lighting.

•  Occupancy sensors were installed in rooms to control HVAC.

•  Project used low E glass, solar shades (vertical and horizontal), and fritted glass.

•  Non-renewable energy displaced – approximately 1 percent from the thin film system. The system can be augmented as funds become available.

•  CO2 displaced from solar laminate system: 35,439 lbs per year.

Air Quality

•  Project used low VOC paints, carpets, sealants, wood and agrifiber, etc.

Water use reduction

•  Plumbing fixtures are water conserving to reduce water use. They include 1 pint flush sensor operated urinals, dual flush low-flow water closets, sensor activated lavatory faucets for improved hygiene and lower water use, and low-flow shower heads.

•  Building was designed to be 42% more water efficient than baseline building.

Site impact

• Project was built on an existing parking lot with no new parking added.

• Bike racks, showers and changing rooms, and access to public transportation were provided.

• Innovation credit – an area of twice the building footprint was set aside on the campus as open space, not to be changed for the life of the building.

Materials and Resources

•  Over 34% of materials by weight are from recycled content.

• More than 20% of materials were sourced locally.

• Project achieved a 95% construction waste recycling rate.

• Comprehensive single stream recycling infrastructure was integrated into the building

3. Aesthetics

Architecture
The building is sited opposite El Pomar Center across Library Plaza and fronts the pedestrian spine that runs through the campus. It is terraced into the hillside to provide on-grade access to three levels with the fourth floor linked to the existing Engineering Building via an enclosed elevated bridge. A fifth story functions as a mechanical penthouse.

The steel frame structure with brick veneer, metal panel, and glazed aluminum window systems build upon existing campus standards. The “spine and finger” floor plate maximizes interior daylighting while reducing massing and scale. The stepped profile of the fingers is intended to allow sunlight to penetrate to courtyard spaces. Each elevation was studied to address interior function, campus context, and solar orientation.

• Solar thin film laminate on roof is not visible from below. It can be seen from the bluff directly behind the building. This technology was selected because the new roof was not designed to hold a heavier photovoltaic structure, and because we wanted to showcase a different technology for students to learn.

•  Outside lights designed to minimize light leaving the site

4. Public Awareness

• Tours provided by both sustainability office and employees at Science & Engineering

•  Tours thus far have included USGBC Southern Colorado Chapter, alumni groups, contributors, facilities directors in the CU system

•  UCCS has been selected to host the solar homes tour in October 2009 based on our LEED buildings, our use of renewable energy, and our focus on increasing public awareness.

•  Signs are located throughout the building describing green and LEED features.

•  There are windows into several mechanical rooms with descriptions of the systems.

•  A green touchscreen display in lobby highlights green features, how the solar laminate system works, and real time data on electricity, natural gas, and solar. This is currently under construction and will be viewable online outside the university in the future.

5. Replicability

This building demonstrates the use of heat recovery, ice storage, and solar laminate technology as well as high performance design and mechanical equipment. Architects and contractors can visit to determine what strategies to replicate. We will post utility use and real time data from the solar laminate system so that others can learn and replicate if desired.