WASHINGTON, DC — The Tower Cos. announced that three of their existing buildings located in the Washington, D.C. metro-area that have been certified as ENERGY STAR rated buildings.
With an Energy Star score of 90, The Tower Building in Rockville, Md. is a 10-story, 265,000 square-foot, multitenant commercial office building was completed ten years ago. The building is also LEED Silver certified.Two factors contributed to the high rating, according to Tower’s Chief Sustainability Officer, David Borchardt. Their 134,000-square-foot U.S. General Services Administration tenant, the Department of Health and Human Services already met the new GSA standards for Energy Conservation.
Tower also replaced all garage lighting, which must always stay on, with more efficient lighting to realize an energy savings of nearly 35 percent, according to a statement from the company.
The Tower building was designed by architectural firm Kishimoto.Gordon.Dalaya.PC and is powered entirely by energy from wind that building owners purchase.
The 12-story 1828 L Street, also under review for LEED Gold certification, is a 313,603 square-foot commercial office building built in 1968. The Tower Companies recently installed a Daikin McQuay Magnitude frictionless centrifugal chiller, which contributed to the building’s ENERGY STAR score of 79.The building also exceeds outside air requirements by at least 50 percent. The architect for the project was DEP Design.
1909 K Street, known as The Millennium Building, is a 236,000 square-foot commercial office building that certified LEED for Existing Buildings and received a score of 77.The building, designed by Boggs & Partners, uses 100 percent wind power, is 16 percent more energy efficient than comparable class A’s and uses 23 percent less water. The building also features a 360-degree perimeter of low-e glass for temperature control.
Borchardt said that Tower Companies continues to educate tenants and building employees about their greening initiatives to help everyone conserve energy, including lighting and temperature control and energy efficient control devices to allow heating and cooling systems to run more efficiently.
The company also seeks out inefficient or unused equipment that can be turned off or replaced.