Views from the Salt Lake CIty office of GSBS Architects, which won AIA Utah’s ‘Walk the Walk’ competition for incorporating sustainable design into their own facility.

“We ended up with an Energy Star rating of 61, which is good,” says Miller. “Part of being a sustainable firm is creating a good environment for employees. Nearly every occupant has a view to the outside; that connection is appreciated by the user. Heating and cooling systems are also set at 68 to 74 degrees, which limits the extreme of what that control can provide. There are a lot of little things that can make a big difference in being environmentally conscious.”

“We’ve been doing environmentally responsible architecture for 30 years,” says David Brems, a principal with GSBS. “Clients just expect that component of our design. They want to know how much you can do for them within their budget.”

“We want to do the best we can for our clients,” adds Miller. “We’re not sitting on the sidelines waiting – we’re proactive with virtually every project we design. We will offer suggestions and gently nudge our clients to do a more sustainable project.”

Other design firms in Salt Lake City, like MHTN Architects, FFKR Architects, and Colvin Engineering Associates have also renovated their offices within the past year to be more energy efficient and employee friendly.

MHTN’s leaders decided that getting its office LEED certified was an essential step in proving the firm’s dedication to sustainable design.

“We felt it would be a great opportunity to showcase our knowledge of sustainability and put into action what we’ve been talking about for many years,” says Kyle Taft, an MHTN principal. Taft says MHTN did everything possible to secure LEED-Platinum certification, but fell a single point shy, meaning it will be a LEED-Gold project. Taft says the firm’s lighting system contributes to energy savings, in addition to abundant sources of natural daylighting.

“Our lighting is augmented with highly reflective ceiling tiles in select locations above light fixtures,” says Taft. “We tied the lighting system in with sensors that monitor the amount of daylight that is present and will shut off banks of lighting when it’s not needed to increase energy conservation.

“We believe in sustainable design and feel it’s the responsible thing to do,” he says. “It offers great benefits to our employees as well. It’s a more comfortable workplace and everybody has a view to the exterior.”

Views of MHTN’s office, slated to earn LEED-Gold certification. Lighting is augmented by reflective ceiling tiles and sensors that monitor natural daylight.

Colvin Engineering recently had its office earn an Energy Star award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, an award that spotlights buildings that are among the top one-fourth nationally in energy efficiency. Colvin principal Steve Connor says the award illustrates his firm’s commitment to sustainability.

“We’re proud to be recognized for this achievement,” says Connor. “As leaders in sustainable design in Utah, we feel we must practice what we preach. Our historic building achieving this Energy Star award is a testimony to our goal of supporting our company and clients on a path to net-zero-energy consumption.”

FFKR Architects also made a bold move to increase energy efficiency in its office by recently installing photovoltaic solar panels on the roof of the former Bogue Building off 400 South in Salt Lake.

According to FFKR principal Mark Wilson, 68 215-watt panels were installed in October, along with three 5,000-watt inverters, which will generate nearly 15,000 watts of electricity. Wilson says the panels cost nearly $92,000 to install, but the expense was greatly offset by a $24,500 Rocky Mt. Power rebate, a $27,500 federal grant and a Utah State tax credit of $6,700, making the actual total expense a palatable $33,100. Energy produced by the PV panels will save the firm roughly $2,200 annually, for a 15-year return-on-investment.

“We had kicked the idea around for a couple of years and finally decided that it was the right thing to do,” says Wilson. “Because of the incentives, it was a smart financial thing to do. You get back 70% of the cost through rebates and tax credits – that’s a great deal.”

Wilson says an internet interface allows the firm to daily monitor exactly how much energy the firm is using, and how much energy is being produced from the PV panels. In addition, he feels that having the solar-roof panels visible to drivers on 400 South helps with the firm’s marketing objectives.

Spectrum’s office was designed with the concept that it would serve as an experimental facility to determine what practices and implementations offered the greatest returns. The result has been a high-performance, energy-efficient, 27,200-sq-ft space focused on occupant health, comfort and productivity.

View of lobby in Spectrum Engineers’ new Salt Lake headquarters. The firm hopes to achieve LEED-Platinum certification from U.S. Green Building Council.

“Much consideration went into creating an office environment that encourages open collaboration, sharing of information and coordination between design disciplines and production communication,” says Dave Wesemann, Spectrum vice president and principal electrical engineer. “With ingenuity and additional effort, our team was able to design an office with proven payback that is comfortable and friendly to the environment.”

“The thing that is interesting is we’re beating the ASHRAE 90.1 energy standard by 53%,” Greene adds. “We have a display when you come into the building that allows you to see how all the systems are saving energy. Each office is individually controlled. If it’s unoccupied, we’re not dumping cool air into that space. After a year, we’ll have enough data to say what the actual payback is. That’s part of the experiment.”

Taft says the fact that many owners, particularly in the government/public sector, have embraced the LEED-rating process signals that green building trends will continue to progress.

“Municipalities and government entities have embraced it,” says Taft. “It’s becoming the expectation rather than the ordinary. As (owners) raise the bar, the extraordinary of today will become commonplace. We have the ability to improve systems and improve building performance because we’re more focused on it.”