An environmental BEST

General Article

Center wins awards for green achievements in three categories

Patrick McPhearson works to maintain the heated waste-flow system that helps to save 3 million gallons of water per year. These and other innovations earned the center awards for energy conservation and environmental sustainability. Photo by Todd McNaught

The center has won three prestigious local awards for its unique and creative approaches to environmental sustainability. The BEST (Businesses for an Environmentally Sustainable Tomorrow) Awards, sponsored by Resource Venture, a program of the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce, and other local partner organizations, were presented May 13 at the program's 3rd annual awards ceremony at Bell Harbor International Conference Center.

Winner of highest honor

The center won the program's highest honor, the Mayor's Environmental Leadership Award, as well as awards for energy conservation and innovation in conservation.

The BEST Awards celebrate notable "green" achievements by organizations in the greater Seattle area. Other sponsoring organizations include the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce, Seattle Public Utilities, Seattle City Light and local water providers in the Saving Water Partnership, a group of local utilities that fund water conservation programs in Seattle and King County.

Innovative environmental approach

This year's ceremony, which honored 11 organizations, was held as part of the Mayor's Forum on Sustainable Strategies for Business Success.

Scott Rusch, vice president of facilities and operations, and Dr. Mark Groudine, director of the Basic Sciences Division, accepted the awards on behalf of the center.

"We are extremely pleased and proud to have received BEST Awards in three categories," Rusch said. "Our team has worked very hard over the past couple of years to implement measures and changes to reduce the center's energy needs. These awards recognize the extent to which our team has gone in order to be innovative in our approach to develop and operate our campus in a responsible, cost-effective and sustainable manner."

The center's buildings have been equipped with cutting-edge systems and features that have led to a substantial reduction in operating costs, Rusch said.

"Our recycling program has grown and improved tremendously and its success is the result of individuals and departments across the center including Facilities Engineering, Environmental Health and Safety, Glasswash, Materiel Management and Information Technology. These awards show that through these efforts, we are leading the community in our approach to operate our campus in a sustainable manner."

More savings means more research

Bob Cowan, facilities engineering manager, noted that the center's conservation efforts also support the center's mission.

"While last year we spent more than $2 million on electricity cost and more than $500,000 on fuel cost, we also saved $1.5 million in annual energy costs," he said. "This savings allows much more cancer research to be done."

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Notable achievements recognized by the award sponsors:

• Fourteen conservation projects save the center 2.1 million kilowatt hours (kWh) and $128,000 per year. The projects include occupancy sensors, high-efficiency chillers and L.E.D. exit signs.
• In the last two years, Fred Hutchinson engineers identified and implemented eleven retrofit projects. Projects such as heat recovery from washers and lighting upgrades save an additional 437,000 kWh and $119,000 per year.
• Thirteen modifications to equipment operations — such as off-hour lighting and fan shutoffs — have generated nearly 1 million kWh and $70,000 in annual savings.
• The center employs highly competent operating engineers, conduct high-quality maintenance on its equipment, supports ongoing recommissioning efforts for high-energy use areas and equipment and the commissions of all new facilities.
• To ensure that faculty and staff understand and maximize energy conservation features, the center has educated employees through building orientations, management briefings, newsletter articles, campus-wide e-mails and large poster boards in the main lobby. Center staff speak at regional and national energy conferences.
• To control laboratory temperature and air-exchange rate more efficiently, these operations connect to the lighting circuit. This approach ensures the required air changes and temperature controls take place when people occupy the labs. When the lights go off, the room temperature decreases and the air change rate goes down by 33 percent.
• The new Public Health Sciences building employs strategies to minimize interior lighting by harvesting daylight and using day-lighting controls as well as automatic lighting control based on occupancy sensors. The building's large atrium high and high ceilings in offices increase penetration of natural light into core spaces, and offices were designed to allow light to pass through to perimeter areas. Exterior offices and labs and upper atrium offices have day-lighting sensors that automatically dim overhead fluorescent lighting when adequate natural light is available. Offices also have occupancy sensors that turn off the light when the room is vacant. Savings from these measures is 920,000 kWh and $55,000 per year.
• The new PHS building also collects ground water from the perimeter foundation and underslab drainage system and pumps it to the city stormwater collection system. A newly installed holding tank and irrigation pump utilize a portion of this water for irrigation purposes. This initiative decreases the use of city water for irrigation during summer months, which is critical for water conservation.
• A new control device, retrofitted onto the center's seven glass washers, minimizes use of deionized water in the rinse process. The new meters com-pare the incoming conductivity of deionized water to that of the rinse water. When they are similar in conductivity, additional rinse cycles are eliminated. The retrofit saves 227,000 gallons of water and $2,000 per year. It also cuts the energy needed to heat the rinse water and power the rinse cycles.

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