What Makes It “Green”?
Students at the University of Oregon's Lundquist College of Business can visualize the concepts of sustainability in a new way—in the form of the Lillis Business Complex. Lundquist College's home was carefully designed to maximize energy efficiency and slash power bills, to minimize negative environmental impacts, and to set new standards for environmentally-friendly design.
How Does It Do This?
The orientation and configuration of the Lillis Business Complex helps it achieve maximum energy efficiency, exceeding state energy code requirements by over 40 percent.
Solar Panels: the Lillis Business Complex houses one of the largest photovoltaic (PV) arrays in the Northwest. The south-facing PV panels generate 44kW of the electricity (enough to power seven average-size homes year round). Power generated at the Lillis Business Complex is feed into the UO power grid for use by all facilities on campus.
Daylighting: sunshades and light shelves were incorporated into the design to control heat gain and glare, while allowing optimum lighting for video projection and student notetaking. The east-west orientation optimizes light exposure, reducing need for electric lights during most of the year.
Ventilation: air is drawn through louvers in the exterior walls, through a raised floor plenum, through the rooms, then collected in the corridor ceiling, and out through the four-storey atrium to the outside. In the atrium, air circulation is enhanced by the use of the required smoke evacuation fan system, normally used only in the event of a fire. Some rooms have ceiling fans for added circulation on warmer days.
Thermal Mass: an extra-thick floor slab enables passive ventilation and helps the building heat up more slowly in the summer and cool more slowly in the winter. On summer nights the building is flushed with cool air, pre-cooling the mass so the building heats up more slowly during the day. On most summer days very little mechanical cooling is needed before 5:00 PM. This reduces reliance on central heating/air systems.
Efficient Electric Lighting and Controls: dimmable fluorescent lighting with electronic ballasts automatically adjusts to the amount of daylight present in the rooms. Lighting levels can also be controlled by system presets. Occupancy sensors will shut off lights and fans when rooms are not occupied, saving electricity.
Smart Plugs: wired to occupancy-sensing system, plugs turn off devices in faculty offices like desk lamps and monitors when the room is unoccupied.
Green Roof: a first for the university, a roof bed holding drought-tolerant plants in three inches of soil was installed. In the summer, it absorbs sunlight, reducing heat-gain and extending the life of the roof system. In winter, the plants reduce the rate of rain runoff into the city storm water system, and act as a natural filter for water that does runoff.
Advanced Monitoring System: central computer measures inside and outside light levels and temperature, building occupancy, heating load, and power generation and adjusts controls automatically for maximum efficiency.
Water Conservation: low-flow fixtures, and the “green” roof.
Site and Landscaping: use of sustainable landscaping techniques that work with existing natural conditions instead of trying to control them; careful choosing of landscaping plants to minimize use of water and chemical pesticides.
Recycling and Reuse: ninety percent of the old building’s mass was recycled. Structural steel and concrete contain recycled content.
Flooring: use of Marmoleum flooring, a natural, biodegradable product made from linseed oil and waste products of the wood industry, on a jute backing. Most carpeting in the building is carpet tile made from recycled carpeting, with a prolonged life span as tiles can be moved to equalize wear.
Indoor Environmental Quality: design allows fresh air circulation; materials that generate ozone-depleting chemicals avoided; low-VOC paint and finishes, and certified hardwoods.