Jan 29 2011
The Tower Companies, Washington, DC's largest builder of USGBC LEED® Certified buildings, announced today that three of their existing buildings have been certified by EPA as ENERGY STAR buildings.
The Tower Building, LEED Silver certified for Existing Buildings, is a 265,000 SF, multi-tenant commercial office building completed ten years ago as the first new construction green building in the DC Metro region. It received an Energy Star score of 90. According to Tower's Chief Sustainability Officer, David Borchardt, two factors contributed to the high rating; their 134,000 SF GSA tenant, Health and Human Services already met the new GSA standards for Energy Conservation. Furthermore, Tower replaced all garage lighting, which must be on 24/7, with more efficient lighting, realizing an energy savings of nearly 35%.
1828 L Street, currently under review with USGBC for LEED Gold certification, is a 313,603 SF commercial office building built in 1968. The Tower Companies recently installed the markets first next generation production version of the Daikin McQuay® Magnitude™ frictionless centrifugal chiller, contributing strongly to an ENERGY STAR score of 79. Furthermore, 1828 L currently exceeds outside air requirements by at least 50%.
1909 K Street, LEED Certified under Existing Buildings, is a 236,000 SF commercial office building known as The Millennium Building for delivering DC's first green building through a renovation completed in 1999. This building received a score of 77.
The Tower Companies has recently committed to greening their entire portfolio of properties and is currently working towards LEED certifications on two downtown office buildings and three high-rise apartment buildings. They currently have six LEED certified projects in their portfolio, in addition to one of the most comprehensive green leases in the country.
Borchardt says that Tower continues to educate tenants and building employees about their greening initiatives to help everyone conserve energy. Some of these efforts include:
- Tower is working with clients to create more energy efficient build outs, including lighting and temperature control of spaces.
- Tower has taken advantage of utility rebates and installed more energy efficient motor control devices, allowing heating and cooling systems to run more efficiently.
- Tower's Chief Engineer, Jim Lewis, continues to challenge himself and his staff to find ways to improve building operations without sacrificing client comfort.
- Tower is finding opportunities to turn off unused equipment and lights; replacing inefficient lighting when a fixture or bulb needs to be replaced.
Source: http://www.towercompanies.com/