"Ground Breaks on $100M HQ for Darden Restaurants"
"A New Angle on Seattle's Skyline"
"Sarasota's Part in a Solar Revolution"
"Green Building Market Sees Growing Popularity in Area"
"The Green Report: From Offices to Lawns, Green Elements Rise"
"A Green Energy Industry Takes Root Under the California Sun"
"Bay Area Gets 18 New Supermarkets"
"Green Roof Conference in Baltimore"
"HOK-Designed HSBC Mexico Headquarters Becomes First LEED Gold Building in Latin America"
"City Hall, Police Building to Install Green Rooftops"
"Greening of Wal-Mart"
"Green Roof Project a Model for Cities"
"It's a Bird, It's a Plane ... No, It's Rooftop Wind Turbines"

Trammell Crow Co. confirms that it has broken ground on a new $100 million corporate headquarters for Darden Restaurants, the Florida-based parent company of the Red Lobster and Olive Garden restaurant chains. The three-story structure will be located in Orlando, Fla., and feature approximately 450,000 square feet of space. Once completed, it will house more than 1,500 employees and include such features as a 30,000-square-foot culinary development center, a fitness facility, a company store, a bank, and a massive data center. The property is being developed to attain Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (or LEED) certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. To this end, it will feature a highly reflective roof system to reduce the heat island effect and an open floor plan to utilize natural lighting, among other features.
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Daniels Development Co. has taken the wraps off plans for an asymmetrical skyscraper in downtown Seattle. At 660 feet, the Fifth and Columbia Tower would rank as the city's fifth-tallest building. Local officials say the office building will become known more for its design than its height. Each side of the slender skyscraper will have four triangular planes set at different angles, similar to facets on a diamond. These facets would be covered by glass that would either be transparent or reflective, depending on weather, time of day and point of view. As it rises, the tower would extend in and out of the air space above the other two buildings on its block. The Fifth and Columbia Tower will also feature a number of environment-friendly features, including solar-energy equipment on its angled roof that would generate a small portion of the structure's electricity. In addition, there will be a system in place to capture and reuse all the rainwater from the entire block.
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Florida Power & Light (FP&L) hopes to use a solar panel test project in Sarasota to introduce solar construction across the state. The project has the backing of Gov. Charlie Crist, who wants to increase Florida's use of solar panels and subsidies for homeowners and businesses to install solar panels on their rooftops. FP&L is feeling pressure from Crist and state lawmakers, who are divided over whether to set strict renewable energy quotas for electric companies and the use of a special energy tax to make solar more affordable. Solar expert Philip Fairey, deputy director of the Florida Solar Energy Center, believes electric companies need quotas to compel the development of project such as the solar plant in Sarasota. "Ten years ago, getting FP&L to announce a solar plant like the one in Sarasota would have been impossible because there was no political will," Fairey says. "They are responding to the threat of regulation."
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A new report by the Burnham-Moores Center for Real Estate at the University of San Diego shows that energy-efficient, environmentally friendly green buildings are growing in popularity nationwide. The study indicates that more developers have been erecting buildings to stringent environmental standards. Also according to the report, commercial property customers were willing to pay an average of $2.45 per square foot extra for renting or an average of $15 per square foot extra for owning an industry-certified green office building. Researchers note that the higher rents and purchase prices for green buildings were offset by lower energy bills. They found that operating expenses from energy costs at buildings that earned the federal government's ENERGY STAR® rating averaged $1.27 per square foot per year, a 30 percent savings over noncertified buildings. Norm Miller, director of academic affairs at Burnham-Moores, states: "The added value of the real estate is now exceeding the extra costs associated with going green. I couldn't have said that five years ago." The push for green buildings started gaining momentum in 1996, when the EPA started using its ENERGY STAR rating system to measure how efficiently new homes and commercial buildings were using energy. Buildings that were rated as one of the top 25 percent for energy efficiency were given an ENERGY STAR rating. Four years later, the U.S. Green Building Council came up with its Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system.
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In California, the North Bay's largest office development for 2008 will begin construction later this month in line with the silver or gold level of the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) building rating. Seagate Properties has begun site work for 230,000 square feet more of office space in addition to a couple of parking structures in the second phase of its San Rafael Corporate Center project. Seagate is undertaking this project even though the city does not require it. Seagate partner Willis Polite suspects tenants will. In fact, several North Bay companies have openly called for green space, including Auto-desk, Lucasfilm and Fair Isaac. At the same time, a developer of the 350-acre Saggio Hills resort in nearby Healdsburg is contemplating a cutting-edge cistern system for its turf areas to better manage stormwater runoff. Such cistern units could play a role in greater use of sod- or plant-covered roofs. Such green roof systems are typically heavy because of the irrigation systems and dirt required. Terranomics Development has proposed what would be one of the North Bay's first green roof systems for its Hotel Healdsburg expansion project, dubbed h2hotel.
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California's zeal for clean energy has made it the unofficial capital of the green energy movement. Currently, around 75 percent of the country's demand for solar comes from residents and companies in the state. In 2007, SunPower reported revenue of more than $775 million. With sales expected to exceed $1 billion in 2008, the silicon solar cell manufacturer says its stock outpaced Apple and Google, rising 251 percent in 2007. Integrated Solar is another California success story. The Los Angeles-based company has developed a low-cost approach to integrating photovoltaic panels directly into the roofs of commercial buildings. Also doing well is SolarCity, a Foster City-based installer of rooftop solar cells. Since its founding two years ago, it has expanded to include a payroll of 215 employees and $29 million in annual sales. Although solar only accounts for less than one-tenth of 1 percent of the global energy market, California's continued efforts to train the spotlight on solar cell's efficiency is helping push the industry to new levels.
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British retailer Tesco is in the process of opening 18 of its "Fresh and Easy Neighborhood Markets" in the San Francisco Bay Area. As part of its pledge to be a good neighbor and protector of the environment, Fresh & Easy has committed to build Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design-certified buildings, as well as to recycle or reuse all shipping and display materials. In addition, Tesco invested in the state's largest solar roof system installation on its distribution facility in Riverside. The retailer is expanding into the Bay Area after opening 30 stores in southern California, Arizona and Nevada
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Later this spring, Baltimore will play host to the 6th annual Greening Rooftops for Sustainable Communities Conference, Awards and Trade Show. The five-day event will take place April 29 to May 3 and will offer more than 50 sessions as well as green products and services from at least 75 exhibitors. The exhibition—which is being organized by the city of Baltimore and Green Roofs for Healthy Cities—will be geared towards architects, landscape architects, roofing professionals, facility managers and developers, urban planners, elected leaders and anyone else with an interest or stake in green roof systems and green buildings. Sessions will address four main topics: policies and programs to support green roof systems; green roof system design and implementation; research on green roof system performance; and networking and information forums on current green roof system topics.
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The HSBC Bank Headquarters Tower in Mexico City has become the first project in Latin America to earn the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold status certification. The HOK-designed building was previously honored with the 2007 National Interiors Award and the top award for Corporate Interior Design from the Mexican Interior Design Association (AMDI). The project served as a pilot for HSBC at a time when its Corporate Real Estate Group was rethinking the company's global workplace standards. For its part, HOK played a key role in helping HSBC increase the density of its Mexican headquarters facility. Among its features are a 4,000-square-foot green roof system, which reduces stormwater runoff, filters pollutants out of the air and reduces the urban heat island effect; an onsite graywater treatment plant, which sends treated water to water closets and chillers and collects stormwater for irrigation; and bike racks for employees who live close by. HOK Project Manager Javier Presas remarks: "We hope this project serves as an example for greening the community and encouraging the Mexican government to offer more incentives for creating environmentally friendly buildings."
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Charlottesville, Va., is set to install a green roof system atop its city hall and the local police department headquarters. The roof systems will help reduce stormwater runoff and lower energy costs. They are the latest in a series of environmentally friendly measures the city has championed in recent months. The roof systems on both buildings had reached the end of their useful lives, with leaks a frequent annoyance to their respective occupants. Because the roof systems needed to be replaced, Charlottesville officials seized the opportunity to invest in green roof systems. Tim Breitenbach, Charlottesville's green roof project manager, reports that a contractor will begin covering the two roofs with a 3-inch layer of soil and sedum plant in early March. It will then take an estimated two years for the vegetation to grow and turn the rooftops a lush green. The green roof systems will cost the city $650,000 versus $400,000 for traditional roof systems. However, Breitenbach says the new additions will pay for themselves eventually in the form of lower energy costs.
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In late January, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. opened the first of a new generation of energy-efficient Supercenters outside of Chicago. These new big-box concept stores promise to reduce energy use by nearly 25 percent compared with a standard Wal-Mart Supercenter. Located in Romeoville, Ill., the new store uses technology tested and developed in a couple of experimental green stores the Arkansas-based retail giant opened in 2005 in McKinney, Texas, and Aurora, Colo., including a white roof system that deflects the sun's heat. Wal-Mart will now look to open three more of these stores by the end of this year. Although no specific sites have been announced, the retailer said the three additional locations will be located in different climate zones nationwide.
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A research project now under way in Austin, Texas, on the viability of green roof systems has drawn attention from all over the U.S. with people flocking to see how the technology works and how they can use it in their communities. A number of businesses from the Austin metro area have banded together to counter the "urban heat island effect" via the installation of green roof systems during construction. The urban heat island effect is a phenomenon where temperatures over metropolitan areas are warmer because of the absorption of heat by buildings, cars and concrete. Brian Gardiner of AusTech notes: "Not only does it raise the inner city core temperatures around 10 degrees Fahrenheit, but it also raises ozone levels which increases respiratory problems especially for the elderly."
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In January, officials in St. Louis County, Minn., signed off on a plan to add wind power to the roof of the Government Services Center in Duluth. The pilot project will utilize a half-dozen turbines, each producing an output of 1,000 watts. They will be perched on the east edge of the rooftop to catch wind off Lake Superior. The county hopes the turbines will shave costs from its $11,000-$12,000 monthly electric bills. If they do not produce results in the first year, county officials have the option to move the project to another county building. Rooftop micro wind turbines for urban and suburban settings are still in the demonstration phase, used primarily by government buildings and large companies interested in green technology. AeroVironment Inc., the company that provided the turbines for St. Louis County, installed 18 wind turbines on the roof of the Kettle Foods manufacturing plant in Beloit, Wis. In addition, the firm has turbines on five other buildings in California, New Jersey and Texas.
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