Operations, Facilities, and the Built Environment

"Sustainability isn't just a bandwagon we're hopping onto. It's woven into the very fabric of our identity, and history, as an institution."
President Purce, 2007.

Evergreen continues to improve its landscape and built environment by using resources more conservatively and efficiently, with green roofs, solar panels, replacement of non-native plants with native vegetation, and planting additional teaching gardens.

Seminar II Building (Highlights)

• First publicly funded LEED Certified Gold building in Washington State
• Uses passive cooling and convective heating
• Green rooftops: cover 40% of the roof reducing runoff and protecting nearby freshwater streams.
• Has large retention structure underground to reduce storm water impact on surrounding streams.
• Seminar II is not your average building; it is a step towards creating a more sustainable future at Evergreen. The Seminar II building was completed in 2004. The process of designing and constructing the facility took over 2 years and 44.1 million dollars. The architects, engineers, Evergreen students and faculty who were part of the planning committee focused primarily on building ecology, energy efficiency, building format, the materials being used, and overall good design. Over 10% of the building is made of recyclable materials, including fly ash in the concrete walls and structural members and re-used gymnasium floor in some of the seminar rooms. Special considerations were taken regarding almost every aspect of the building including emphasis to reduce the buildings “footprint.”
• The building is 60% more efficient than other conventional buildings. This was done by use of new engineering and architectural design techniques. For example, natural ventilation, hydronic heat, passive solar design and automatic shading, low E glass, and digital controls all help make this building more eco-friendly.
• Click HERE for a users guide, or follow the link for more information: http://www.evergreen.edu/sustainability/evergreenstories/SeminarIIBuilding.htm

Longhouse Renovation – LEED Silver

Construction to start in January 2009

Energy Savings Plan

Will save the college 500 tons of carbon and reduce the electricity bill by an estimated $73,000. Energy savings activities include a pool cover and heat recovery in Lab I. Implementation is scheduled to be complete by June 2009.

Chiller Plant

• Space cooling (air conditioning) is CFC and HCFC free. It is 100% R134a, an essentially unregulated HFC.
• Space cooling is supported by two chillers with a total capacity of 1800 tons. This is 75% of the capacity when the college opened in 1971, when there were fewer students and there was significantly less conditioned area.
• The cooling plant efficiency is approaching state-of-the-art levels with the addition of variable frequency drives on both chillers and variable flow on the main pumps. Further work will establish variable flow in each building.
• This work will lead to another significant utility incentive payment from Puget Sound Energy for savings beyond what is required by applicable energy codes.

Building Monitoring

Evergreen’s facilities department will be installing meters to more accurately measure each building’s use of the various utilities, steam, chilled water, potable water and electricity.

Electric Vehicles

Facilities recently purchased 5 more electric vehicles and we will continue to reduce our gasoline powered fleet.

Solar Panels (Dan Evans Library Remodel)

Due for completion by the end of 2008 – the library will include an array of photovoltaic cells on the rooftop. The unit will provide 8 kilowatts of electricity, enough to power two average homes. This will serve as a demonstration project and will include a kiosk to show the power being produced.

This grant will fund a kiosk and is going up in the library lobby just outside of the library entrance. The kiosk is directly linked to the new solar panels being installed on the library building roof and will provide real-time information about the energy saved to power the building as well as more general information about energy sustainability. The installation is scheduled for this summer (2008).

Pesticide and herbicide Free Landscaping

Single Stream Recycling

Reduced material hauled to landfill by 15% from July through December 2007

New Irrigation Monitoring System

Installing new sensors for the irrigation system that monitor the moisture and adjust the irrigation for optimum; estimated water savings is $6,000 per year.

100% Recycled Paper: Evergreen’s paper policy has been revised to say

"Chlorine-free 100% post-consumer recycled paper is the standard for general campus correspondence including laser printing and copy machine use". The draft revision is in the process of being presented to senior staff and the Board of Trustees for approval. http://www.evergreen.edu/policies/policy/paperpurchasing

Green Cleaning Products

over 95% of our cleaning products are Green Seal approved.