A Model For Energy Efficiency

SAN FRANCISCO — The greenest urban office building in North America is also home to the Living Machine System, which helps the LEED-Platinum building recycle its blackwater/wastewater content.

The 13-story San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SF PUC) is leading the way in green design and green technology. The building is not only the greenest urban office building in North America, but it is also demonstrating how going green can save money and help improve a building’s efficiency.

“We built 525 Golden Gate [SF PUC] to save ratepayers hundreds of millions of dollars, create jobs in our construction industry and demonstrate to the world best practices for energy efficiency and water conservation,” said Edwin Lee, mayor of San Francisco in a statement. “Built ahead of schedule and on budget, using a local workforce, the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission’s new headquarters represents forward-thinking and San Francisco ingenuity at its best.”

The $201.6 million building was designed by San Francisco-based KMD Architects and Brattleboro, Vt.-based Stevens and Associates, while construction services were completed by San Francisco-based Webcor Builders.

The building has many unique green features including the Living Machine. The system is an ecological wastewater treatment and reuse technology, which turns both blackwater and greywater into high quality, reusable water for non-potable uses.

Having an onsite wastewater treatment system is not the most glamorous of amenities —especially in building that holds hundreds of employees in a prestigious San Francisco location; however, designers were able to incorporate the model without dampening the appearance of the interior.

The area where the system is located looks like an indoor garden with a series of wetland cells, or basins that are filled with special gravel that promotes the development of micro-ecosystems. Underneath the stealth garden lies the technology that is able to reduce per-person water consumption from 12 gallons (normal use) to 5 gallons and allows the building to use 60 percent less water than similarly sized buildings. As water moves through the system, the cells are alternately flooded and drained to create multiple tidal cycles each day, much like those found in nature, resulting in high quality reusable water, according to a statement.

The numbers speak to the efficiency of the product. By having the system free up fresh water for drinking use, it saves approximately 750,000 gallons of water per year, and provides an additional 900,000 for non-potable uses.

The Living Machine has been used at other facilities with equally impressive results, including its recent installation at the Marine Corps Recruit Depot (MCRD) in San Diego, Calif.

Installing the Living Machine at MCRD will allow San Diego to divert 3.7 million gallons of water per year from the San Diego sewer system for use as sub-surface irrigation. It will also save energy and provide secure, reliable, on-site access to quality water, reducing dependence on external sources.

“The Living Machine system offers us the opportunity to go beyond conventional water treatment and achieve a significant new level of control over our resources, which improves our mission readiness,” said Richard Hatcher, energy manager at MCRD in a statement.

Whether the system is being applied to a state-of-the-art, world-class building, or at an institution that prides itself on performance and order; the Living Machine System will deliver the highest quality, as it is the most energy-efficient water reuse technology to-date, according to Living Machine Systems.