One of the nation’s most-efficient buildings – Brochure

About This Project

Designed first as a comfortable workplace, it is also a “living lab” that shows the process and performance behind one of the nation’s most-efficient buildings.
Why? If we’re going to protect the Earth’s climate, we need to start by slashing the energy needed to power our buildings—which currently use nearly three-fourths of America’s electricity—and then power those buildings with cleaner sources of energy. The Innovation Center shows how.
This building achieves net-zero energy, generating more energy than it needs, allowing it to also power six electric vehicles. As of 2015, fewer than 200 commercial buildings in the U.S. had earned this distinction. In fact, the Innovation Center is one of the top 20 most energy-efficient buildings in the country and uses 74% less energy than the average building in this climate.
The building’s modest additional upfront cost to achieve net-zero energy (10.8%) will pay for itself through energy savings in less than four years. This level of performance is achieved thanks to integrative, passive design. A committed team used “integrated project delivery”—a contract model that promotes collaboration, shared goals, and an innovative risk/reward system to make it all possible.