2003 Closing the Circle Award Winner, Sustainable Design

The Naval District Washington (NDW) renovated the Washington Naval Yard, which includes three buildings in the Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) site and the Sanger Quadrangle building.

• Siting: Using sustainable methods, NDW demolished five buildings, renovated three historic buildings, and constructed a new building and a new eight level parking garage to create an environmentally healthy workspace for all employees. NDW formed a commissioning team to ensure that the project had a solid foundation and that development was monitored closely. The team helped to identify issues during construction so that the completion time was reduced. The Sanger Quadrangle building was the first green building of its kind for the Navy. Since its completion, the Naval Facilities Engineering Command (NAVFAC) now mandates sustainable designs for all of its building projects. The Navy preserved the building's historic façade by constructing a building within a building.

  The NDW chose to use a commissioning team on this project as well so that the design and development of the quadrangle proceeded smoothly. Sustainability was achieved through improvements in indoor environmental air quality, building energy performance, resource efficiency, and waste minimization.

• Energy Efficiency: The NAVSEA site reduced energy consumption by using an air-conditioning system operated with an economizer cycle. The economizer cycle mode admits increasing volumes of outside air to obtain "free cooling" and thereby save the mechanical cooling energy. Besides increasing the airflow, the air-conditioning systems are equipped with 30 percent efficient filters that capture the particles from the existing room air to improve indoor air quality. Also, this air system has a "low temperature application," which ensures that the primary air is dehumidified and the resulting space humidity remains constant. This innovative air system prevents more than 2.5 million kg of air pollution from taking place.

  The project also uses energy-efficient windows with low E glass that provides a low shading factor, tinted glass walls on the south and west exposures, skylights to provide natural light, light shelves to provide shading as well as day lighting, low U-value walls and roofs to provide enhanced thermal insulation, variable frequency drives, lighting systems, lighting control systems, chilled water system, and recycled content materials. Together, these practices saved more than 5.6 million kw/year of energy.

  To save energy at the Sanger Quadrangle, the Navy installed numerous energy saving products, including dimmers and occupancy sensors in the majority of rooms, skylights, and a smaller HVAC system that uses high-efficiency variable speed motors in order to achieve the same level of productivity. To insulate the building, so that the temperature achieved by the HVAC system is maintained, the Navy installed double-glazed insulating glass for the windows and insulated the brick walls. Even though this insulation cost more than conventional building practices, the costs will be returned in less than one year by savings in energy bills.

• Construction and Demolition Recycling: NDW required that the construction contractor recycle construction and demolition debris and install recycled content products whenever appropriate. NDW placed bins around the site to collect aluminum, white paper, newspaper, corrugated material, wood, and metal. During construction, NDW also offered recycling for geo-textile and waterproofing recycled plastics, used bricks, and all construction and demolition waste. The existing concrete floor was crushed and used for other projects, while recycled content products included concrete containing coal fly ash, wallboards containing recycled gypsum, and ceiling tiles containing recycled newsprint.

• Resource Efficiency: NDW installed low water consuming fixtures so that water use was reduced. And air quality was made a priority so that employee productivity is maximized. Carbon monoxide monitors were placed throughout the building to ensure safety. Also paints and carpet adhesives with low levels of volatile organic compounds were used in this project to increase air quality.

  Even environmentally preferable transportation was encouraged on site; NDW asked staff to save energy by taking advantage of public transportation, carpools, and vanpools. Also, NDW limited the number of parking spaces so that employees would find alternatives to driving.

Altogether, this building is predicted to provide energy savings of $130,000 in less than 8 months. For more information please contact, Thomas Lewis at (202) 433-7181 or Thomas.lewis@navy.mil.