The LEED® Payback

Jon Jackson, FAIA, Bohlin Cywinski Jackson (BCJ)
David Madigan, van Zelm Heywood & Shadford, Inc.

The presentation, "The LEED Payback," examines three laboratory facilities at Yale University, Smith College, and Dartmouth College designed by BCJ. The extraordinary amount of energy needed to operate these facilities presents the greatest opportunity and potential to capture, reuse, and conserve resources in an effort to realize greater efficiency and cost savings through highly sustainable, inventive design.

Presented in three parts, including "Standard Proven Technologies," "Advanced Energy Saving Technologies," and "Progressive Approach: Metrics and Technologies," The LEED Payback presentation demonstrates the ingenuity and complexity of designing sustainable laboratory and research facilities, and emphasizes key points to realize lasting benefits including:

  • Employing a multi-component strategy of fresh air reduction and energy recapture to lower HVAC operational costs and reduce demand.
  • Segregating program areas and building systems to reduce energy demand.
  • Setting appropriate performance metrics during programming to achieve energy reduction goals and track first, and operational costs.
  • Saving money and energy with program focused design.

Case studies: The 100,000-square-foot (SF) LEED Silver, Yale Chemistry Research Building (CRB) in New Haven, Connecticut, is designed to minimize consumption of natural resources by giving particular attention to heat recovery, ventilation draw loads, energy consumption, and the building orientation. The campus realizes savings in excess of $350,000 annually. The facility received the I2SL Go Beyond Award in 2009.

The Ford Hall Molecular Biology and Engineering Center at Smith College, in Northampton, Massachusetts, is a 142,000-SF facility and the first building on a new campus precinct for the sciences and technology that employs tremendously advanced energy-saving technologies. Programmatically, the laboratories are divided by type and located in separate wings. Separating the wet and dry laboratories contributed to the significant cost savings that stem from the hydronic heating/cooling, mixed mode atrium ventilation, site water capture, and heat recovery systems. The building had originally been mandated to achieve a LEED Silver rating, but exceeded the points necessary to earn LEED Gold.

The 172,000-SF Life Sciences Building at Dartmouth College is anticipated to be the most energy-efficient life sciences building in the country. The new facility is expected to use less than half the energy of a comparable science building. Key energy management features include enthalpy wheels, active chilled beams, triple glazed windows, and a high-performance envelope.

Biographies:

Jon C. Jackson has been with BCJ since 1974. Mr. Jackson's invaluable industry experience in all facets of the design process have made him a passionate industry leader recognized for his ability to integrate the challenging technological and technical complexities of research facilities and similar typologies. Moreover, Mr. Jackson has helped shape the culture of a firm that demonstrates a strong sense of environmental stewardship, curiosity, ingenuity, and a commitment to creating spaces that people enjoy.

Throughout his career, Mr. Jackson has managed nearly all of the firm's science and research facilities in both the public and private sector, delivering projects of exceptional quality and timeless beauty based on a quiet rigor that is both intellectual and intuitive. A principal of BCJ since 1988, Mr. Jackson has strategically guided the growth of the award-winning architecture, planning, and interior design firm from its Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania office.

Dave Madigan is a principal of van Zelm Heywood Shadford Inc., a well-established mechanical and electrical consulting engineering firm in Farmington, Connecticut.

A LEED AP and frequent speaker on sustainable design, Mr. Madigan has worked on numerous projects with sustainable design objectives; of particular note is Mr. Madigan's experience in the design and planning of high efficiency, sustainable laboratory facilities and the design and implementation of campus energy conservation measures.

Some of Mr. Madigan's areas of specialty are college and university campus development, high-performance laboratory design, and cogeneration systems. Examples of recent projects managed by Mr. Madigan can be found at Dartmouth College, Cornell University, Wesleyan University, and Williams College.