Leed GoldWold Center Sustainability Features

EYP, A.J. Martini, and the Union College Green Team (see Architects and Teams page) have collaborated to design the Wold Center to LEED Gold standards.  Sustainability is an essential component of the Wold design specifications, and the building itself will become a teaching tool.

Green Team Objectives:

  • Obtain LEED GOLD Certification from the US Green Buildings Council
  • Use the building as a Teaching and Learning Tool
  • Science and Engineering on Display
  • Use the building as a Platform for Innovation
  • Faculty/Student Projects and Research in Energy and the Environment

Options for Alternative Energy under consideration:

  • Ground Source Heat Pump (GSHP) Summer Reheat (Geothermal)
  • Occupancy / Use Based Controls
  • Aerogel Skylight / Curtain Wall
  • Photovoltaics (PV)
  • Demand Controlled Ventilation
  • Lighting Control / Daylighting
  • Solar Hot Water (Solar Thermal)

The Wold Center Green Story. 

Features which will be included in Wold (scroll down for further description):

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Metering equipment for electric, chilled water and steam will be installed

This equipment will allow for ongoing benchmarking and continuous energy monitoring of the building. Inefficiencies in the system will be able to be detected immediately, allowing troubleshooting to happen as soon as it is needed. The metering equipment will work hand in hand with the energy star target finder. The inclusion of high accuracy meters will also allow the buildings energy use to be continuously displayed in public area of the building, including a representation of the  proportion of energy that may be provided by alternative energy sources that are being tested within the building.

At least 35% of the building’s electricity will come from renewable sources via a renewable energy contract that will be committed to for a minimum of two years

This demonstrates a high level of commitment by Union College and shows the dedication to supporting the development of renewable energy technologies. This investment not only decreases the overall carbon footprint of this building’s operations, it also provides funding that serves to finance the expansion of clean energy sources throughout the country.

Design includes waterless urinals and dual flush water closets

High-efficiency fixtures maximize water efficiency within the building, saving water costs, and more globally, reduce the burden on municipal water supply. This also serves to reduce the amount of energy that would be required to pump and treat the volume of water that is saved.

Many low VOC materials incorporated, including adhesives, sealants, paints, carpet and composite wood

A conscious effort was placed on specifying materials that will reduce the quantity of indoor air contaminants that are odorous, irritating and/or harmful to the comfort and well-being of the building’s occupants.  This will lead to better focus and productivity for the occupants as well as potential short term and long term health benefits to frequent occupants of the building.

Student and public education on sustainable building design and LEED, via educational panels in the main lobby

Especially appropriate for an educational building, Wold will display the sustainable features on monitors, including LEED information, campus data and analysis, Green Grant project info, etc.  The monitoring of building data will also relate to Wold specific courses and the rooftop lab.

Union College Presidential Green Grants

The Green Grants program provides a mechanism to support novel ideas or research that will make specific contributions to sustainability at the college, regional, national or global scale. Projects that directly impact the design and operations of the Wold Science Center or research projects that will be undertaken at the Wold Science Center will be especially encouraged, showing the commitment that the office of President Stephen Ainlay has to both sustainability and supporting the students of Union College.

Aerogel

Incorporating a high-performance, transparent material into the façade is especially significant at Wold, as it showcases the research that is done within the building. With insulating properties far exceeding all other translucent materials , aerogel is on the cutting edge of energy efficient design as it allows natural light to penetrate a space without the usual heating and cooling penalty that would be associated with a normal glazing system. By the inclusion of this material on the Wold Center’s North Clerestory, the Center will truly demonstrate the College’s commitment to the support of emerging technologies and energy efficiency .

Occupancy/Use based control system

Occupancy sensors are generally used in a building to control lighting, however the Wold Center will use sensors that will directly interface with the building control systems. By providing the building control system with real time occupancy information on spaces, the temperature, air flow and lighting within a space can be controlled such that systems will not operate at their maximum capacity when they are not required. Most of the energy savings in the lab spaces will result from the reduction of outdoor air and exhaust flow to unoccupied setpoints during times of low building occupancy, leading to significant heating, cooling and fan energy savings.

Summer Reheat

The Wold center will be served by the campus central steam system for its heating requirements during the winter months, however there will still be some heating required during summer months due to the high levels of outdoor air being introduced to the lab spaces. Normally a small boiler would be installed within the building to serve the off-season heating requirements, however an alternative to this approach is to serve these needs with a water to water heat pump sized to meet only this load. This will prevent the need to install an additional boiler and reduce the buildings operational carbon footprint significantly during the warmer months of the year.  A well field will be drilled adjacent to the building to provide the necessary ground coupled heat source to the heat pump unit.

Efficient Building Envelope

The envelope of a building is comprised of all the surfaces exposed to ambient outdoor temperatures including the walls, windows, doors and roof. The envelope components of the Wold center have been analyzed such that the thermal resistance they provide has the lowest overall cost when projected across the life of the building.

U Sustain Committee and Activities designated space within Wold

U Sustain is a sustainability initiative at Union College led by faculty, staff, students, and administrators. The goals of U Sustain are to reduce the ecological footprint of Union College, increase environmental awareness on campus and in the community, and make the College more sustainable. The College is committed to the goals of U Sustain and to supporting its efforts to make Union College a more sustainable institution. In recognition of U Sustain’s efforts, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation awarded U Sustain one of six 2008 Environmental Excellence Awards. While U Sustain has had many successes so far, the initiative lacks a true “home” on campus – a place where anyone from the campus community can find information on sustainable living and on what Union is doing to become a more sustainable institution. Creating a headquarters for U Sustain in the new Wold building will solve this problem and will serve to highlight the sustainable aspects of the building. Display spaces near the high-traffic atrium in the Wold building will be used to highlight campus sustainability initiatives, display awards, and further U Sustain’s goal of educating the campus about sustainable living and working.

Other features earning LEED points needed for Gold certification:

  • Secure bicycle storage provided for 5%+ of the building occupants
  • Alternative fuel vehicles provided for Union utility vehiclesreferred parking provided for alternative fuel vehicles
  • Designated open space, equal in size to the development’s footprint, provided adjacent to the building
  • Stormwater management plan developed that reduces impervious cover, promotes infiltration and captures and treats runoff from 90% of the annual average rainfall
  • Light-colored, high-albedo materials [SRI of at least 29] used for more than 50% of the site’s non-roof impervious surfacesight trespass minimized from the building and the site
  • No permanent irrigation
  • 20% less water will be used in the building than calculated baseline
  • Zero-use of CFC-based refrigerants in building
  • Design includes storage and collection of recyclables, including separation and collection of paper, corrugated cardboard, glass, plastics and metals
  • At least 75% of non-hazardous construction and demolition materials will be recycled and/or salvaged
  • A waste management plan will be developed and implemented quantifying diversion goals
  • Materials incorporated that include recycled content such that the sum of the post consumer content plus one-half of the post industrial content constitutes at least 20% of the total value of the materials in the project
  • Minimum of 10% of the total materials value of the building will be building materials or products that have been extracted, harvested, and manufactured within 500 miles of the project site
  • A minimum of 50% of the wood-based materials and products will be certified in accordance with the Forest Stewardship Council’s Principles and ciriteria for wood building components.
  • Smoking will be prohibited in the building, and within 25 feet of all building entries, outdoor air intakes and operable windows
  • Permanent monitoring systems will be installed that provide feedback on ventilation system performance to ensure that ventilation system maintain design minimum ventilation requirements
  • Prior to building occupancy, a two-week building flush out will occur with new filtration media
  • Permanent entryway systems incorporated, which will capture dirt and particulates from entering building
  • Segregated areas with deck to deck partitions and separate outside exhaust and negative pressure incorporated in all rooms where chemical use occurs
  • Individual comfort controls provided for a minimum of 50% of the buildings occupants, relating to thermal comfort
  • A thermal comfort survey will be taken of building occupants within a period of six to eighteen months after occupancy to ensure a majority of occupants are comfortable
  • Linoleum finish for the Corridors are made from renewable raw materials, Rosin tapped from pine trees, wood flour, cork flour, linseed oil, limestone, jute and color pigments that do not contain heavy metals , such as lead and cadmium.
  • Metal Ceiling is manufactured with 25% pre-consumer recycled content.
  • Carpet used for the offices and classrooms are made of a type 6 nylon face yarn and backing made of 100% thermoplastic polyolefin which are a 100% recyclable.  When this product has reached the end of its useful life the manufacturer will pick it up and recycle it into more carpet tiles at no cost to the consumer.  The recycling process for this product is called Elutriation.  It consists of grinding the carpet into a course mixture, then separating the backing and fiber elements based on their weight, using air flow and gravity.  The recovered backing is sent off to be made into solid pellets and the pure backing  polymer is ready to be made into carpet backing once again.  On the other hand, the recovered fiber goes to their Evergreen Nylon Recycling Facility to be made into carpet yarn again to complete its cradle-to cradle cycle.
  • Wall base is made of 100% synthetic rubber.  Off-spec waste reused in process for 19% pre-consumer recycled content.  No PCB, CFC, asbestos or formaldehyde additives
  • Toilet Partition is fabricated of at least 30% post -industrial and 100% Post consumer recycled high density polyethylene (HDPE).HDPE is 62% of all plastic bottles.  Used in milk bottles, liquid detergents, juices, some bottles waters, shampoos, antifreeze. This toilet partition is low in maintenance and high in vandal resistance.
  • Acoustic Ceiling Tile at General areas are manufactured with 65% pre-consumer and 15% post consumer recycled content.  The pre-consumer materials are surplus paper from manufacturing, like phonebooks, newspapers and magazines and post consumer materials are from recycled ceiling tile

Wold Center Green Team

  • Jeffrey Corbin, Asst. Prof. of Biology
  • Laura MacManus-Spencer, Asst. Prof. of Chemistry
  • Mohammad Mafi, Prof. of Engineering
  • Paul Matarazzo, Capital Projects Administrator
  • Loren Rucinski, Director of Facilities Services
  • Fred Puliafico, Asst. Director of Facilities / Utilities Construction and Management
  • Richard Wilk, Prof. of Mechanical Engineering (Chair)
  • Michael Bono, Class of 2009
  • Bob Arket, Licensed Electrician, Facilities Service