AMERICA’S CENTER FOR GREEN TECHNOLOGY

by Lev Zvenyach, PE and Tram Hoang Littmann

Located in the heart of the Midwest, the Chicago Center for Green Technology (CCGT) is a giant step toward Mayor Richard M. Daley’s vision to make Chicago the greenest city in America.

After the previous owner violated the City’s environmental laws and filed for bankruptcy in 1997, the Chicago Department of Environment (DOE) took control of the 17-acre property. The brownfield site was littered with more than 600,000 cubic yards of construction and demolition debris, including a pile of rubble so dense it sank 15 feet into the ground. Clean up took 18 months and 45,000 truck loads, with some of the clean stone and concrete recycled into public infrastructure projects throughout the city.

Rather than simply renovating the building using traditional methods, DOE seized the opportunity to create an energy efficient building using the highest standards of green technology available. The Chicago Chapter of the American Institute of Architects’ Committee on the Environment formed a design team, led by Farr Associates, to renovate the building using a set of guidelines newly introduced by the U.S. Green Building Council called LEED® (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design). It became the third building in the U.S. to achieve a platinum rating and is to date the only renovation to earn this highest distinction.

“What was once an environmental liability, an eyesore for the community, is now a community asset and a national example,” Mayor Daley said at the building’s dedication in 2002. Today, this 34,000 square foot building functions as an office building, an educational facility, a high-tech factory, an interpretive center and a “garden in the city.” It houses tenants that share a sustainable mission and serves as both a national model of environmentally sensitive design and a resource for those wanting to learning more about sustainable technologies.

Innovation

While the HVAC system utilizes standard materials and equipment, overall it is not a typical design for a 34,000 SF office building in Chicago. For example:

• This building is the first in the City of Chicago to utilize a geothermal heat pump system.
• The building has displacement ventilation without using a raised floor assembly or underground ductwork distribution.
• Solar panels are installed over windows and function as external shading devices as well as solar collectors.
• Occupancy control is used via the building control system to optimize the outside air requirements with load requirements, as well as load shedding techniques to minimize peak demand.
• On-site power generation creates 71 kW peak production vs. 100 kW peak demand.

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