Enermodal Engineering’s headquarters, A Grander View, recently received its LEED Canada NC and CI Platinum certifications from the Canada Green Building Council (CaGBC). A Grander View was awarded 61 of 70 NC points and 50 of 57 CI points – this is the most CI points ever achieved by a Canadian project. The building also achieved all 10 LEED NC Optimize Energy Performance points.
A Grander View is Canada’s most energy-efficient office, using a metered 69 kWh/m2 compared with the Canadian average of over 375 kWh/m2. A Grander View has been submitted for LEED EB:O&M Platinum certification as well. There are currently about 300 LEED Canada certified projects total.
Enermodal Engineering recently made history, becoming the first LEED consultant to certify 100 LEED projects in Canada. The 100th LEED certified project was Enermodal’s own headquarters, A Grander View.
“It is one thing to promote your building as ‘green,’ and another to be awarded the top destination in the most rigorous green building, third-party rating system in North America,” says Stephen Carpenter, president of Enermodal Engineering. “That we were able to design and build A Grander View at minimal additional cost – including LEED certification – shows that LEED Platinum is possible for even small projects with modest budgets.”
A Grander View is one of two buildings set to represent Canada at the Sustainable Buildings Challenge in Helsinki in October 2011.
The design philosophy behind A Grander View was to use a simple, carefully conceived mechanical/electrical design rather than flashy technologies or complex systems. Some of the interesting green features of this all-electric, 22,000 ft2 building include the following:
- a long, narrow building (40 ft across) to allow daylight access for all employees
- automated exterior shades to cut down on glare and solar heat gain
- variable refrigerant flow heating/cooling system
- insulated concrete form shell and triple-glazed windows
- separate ventilation system with earth tubes and energy recovery ventilation for 100 per cent outdoor air
- occupancy-sensor-controlled ventilation, lighting, and heating/cooling
- an air-to-water source heat pump that transfers heat from the computer server room to provide all domestic hot water needs
- rainwater cistern to supply wastewater conveyance
While there is a continuous debate over the actual versus predicted energy savings of green buildings, A Grander View is hitting its design model targets for energy efficiency of 82 per cent metered energy savings. The building actually achieved higher water savings than predicted, at 89 per cent indoor water savings compared with a conventional office.