MIRAMAR, Fla. — The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Miami Field Office and the General Services Administration (GSA) officially named and dedicated a new federal office building in Miramar during a ceremony on April 10.
SEATTLE — The Bullitt Center in Seattle has become the first office building in the world to earn the Living Building Certification, a strict benchmark of sustainability in the built environment. The Bullitt Center confirmed the certification on April 1.
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) will now recognize energy and water requirements from the Living Building Challenge within the LEED green building program, the council announced on April 7.
The Living Building Challenge is touted as a program that sets the highest benchmarks for sustainability in the built environment. The move between the USGBC and the Living Building Challenge means that projects achieving energy and water requirements in the challenge will be considered as technically equivalent to LEED.
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — Green industry professionals gathered at the Sacramento Convention Center April 7 and 8 for the Green California Summit and Exposition. The California drought was a hot topic of discussion in several presentations that showcased ways to reduce water.
HGA Architects and Engineers (HGA) hired Peter Dahl, Ph.D., LEED AP, as a senior associate in the energy and infrastructure group. Dahl will work in HGA’s Minneapolis office, where he will lead sustainable operations in the firm’s three core practice groups: health care, public/corporate and arts/community/higher education.
Nora Lighting expands its LED recessed downlight offerings with the Cobalt Series, a cULus-wet listed retrofit fixture for use in existing insulation contact (IC) or non-IC housings manufactured by Nora and others. Cobalt is available in 4-, 5- and 6-inch apertures and has a 1,000-lumen output. Cobalt downlights include Cree’s latest COB family of LED arrays, delivering brighter illumination and lower power consumption. The units have a high 95 color rendering index (CRI), which allows the fixtures to more realistically reveal colors similar to a natural light source.
Johnson Controls introduces Quantech Air-Cooled Chillers. The Quantech chillers offer up to 50 percent annual energy cost savings compared with the replaced chillers; have a low lifecycle cost; meet or exceed American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) standards; and help earn LEED credits with a low refrigerant charge. The Quantech line includes the Quantech QTC2 and QTC3 15- to 175-ton air-cooled scroll chillers, as well as the Quantech QTC4 160- to 210-ton air-cooled screw chillers with variable speed drives, which are built to order.
Volt Lighting introduces a new line of LED high bay lights. The lights are designed to offer significant energy cost savings (and other benefits) to facilities currently using high-pressure sodium (HPS) or metal halide (MH) high bays. Cost savings result from two factors: the lighting efficiency advantages of LED light sources compared to the HPS and MH high bays they replace and the smart controls that use motion-activated technology to ensure the lights are only on when needed.
Traditional salt-based water softeners using ion-exchange resin and salt have been used for years to eliminate hard water problems. Water for back washing and the salt ($200 to $400 per year to purchase) are an added expense and are a problem for areas where water is restricted. The new Scale Stopper system from Clean Water Systems & Stores Inc. saves water and energy by eliminating wastewater. The system uses a technology called Template Assisted Crystallization (TAC) to treat minerals in water without the use of salt or chemicals.
LED Lighting Inc. has expanded its T8-series product line to include an LED ballast-compatible Generation 3 (G3) T8 tube lamp. The tube lamp features plug-in-play technology, with which the LED lamp plugs directly into most existing fixtures. In addition to the ballast-compatible component, customers will also experience energy-saving benefits, including a long lifespan of an estimated 50,000 hours, and may also qualify for energy-efficient rebates. The 18-watt, 4-foot LED tube lamp is available in neutral white (4000K) and cool white (5000K).
