Sustainability Report

Documented strategies with potential embodied-carbon benefits include:

• The building uses a relatively restrained material palette, including cream-city brick and board-and-batten cladding.
• Value engineering was undertaken in response to construction-cost increases, requiring the design team to reassess the building while retaining the geothermal and solar systems identified as sustainability priorities.
• The building's long-term flexibility can reduce the likelihood of major future alterations as program requirements change.
• Future expansion capacity was considered in the building and site planning, including the photovoltaic infrastructure.

Actual energy benchmarking has been conducted following occupancy rather than relying solely on predicted performance.

Measured operational energy:

The 2025 HGA benchmarking reported:

25 kBtu/ft²/year without solar PV.

17 kBtu/ft²/year with solar PV.

Solar generation offset approximately 34% of the building load. For the 31,257 ft² building, 17 kBtu/ft²/year corresponds to approximately 155,700 kWh/year of energy use. Using the reported 34% solar offset, approximately 102,800 kWh/year would remain supplied by the grid.

Using an EPA eGRID RFC West electricity factor of approximately 413.3 kg CO₂/MWh, this corresponds to an estimated 42,500 kg CO₂/year, or approximately 14.6 kg CO₂/m²/year of location-based operational electricity emissions after the reported solar contribution.

The project has a comparatively well-documented operational-energy strategy:

• 42-well geothermal bore field for heating and cooling.
• Electric heat pumps rather than fossil-fuel combustion equipment.
• No natural-gas connection, resulting in zero on-site combustion emissions.
• 129 photovoltaic panels / 61.92 kWdc of installed solar capacity.
• Efficient windows and lighting.
• Extensive daylight access through strategically oriented glazing.
• Water-conserving plumbing fixtures.
• Future capacity for additional photovoltaic generation.

Several design decisions can reduce future operational and maintenance requirements:

• The geothermal system replaces conventional fossil-fuel heating equipment and associated fuel infrastructure.
• The all-electric approach simplifies the building's energy supply by eliminating natural-gas infrastructure.
• The brick base and exterior cladding provide durable enclosure materials.
• The open and flexible floor plan allows spaces to change function without requiring extensive reconstruction.
• The photovoltaic system was designed with additional capacity for future expansion, reducing the need to redesign the basic solar infrastructure when generation is increased.
• Energy benchmarking during the first year of operation provides a mechanism for identifying operational adjustments and improving system performance over time.