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“A Jenga tower… a pile of books… a game of Tetris…” are some of the reactions to the appearance of the newest addition to the Boston skyline, but this oddly shaped structure hides a number of smart, efficient and sustainable elements that have allowed it to achieve Net Zero status. building. Recently opened to students, the new Boston University (BU) Center for Computing and Data Science is 19 stories tall and spans 345,000 square feet, making it the University’s tallest building and the city’s largest 100% fossil fuel-free building. . BU’s president claimed the iconic structure was created as a “conversation starter,” and aside from the bold aesthetic, the building’s green features are sparking a host of discussions about net-zero energy buildings. The $305 million building is the result of a 2012 tender that whittled a long list of about 50 companies down to five contenders, with Toronto-based KPMB winning. Each network […]

Boston’s Net Zero Energy Buildings: A New Standard For Profitable Sustainability

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“A Jenga tower… a pile of books… a game of Tetris…” are some of the reactions to the appearance of the newest addition to the Boston skyline, but this oddly shaped structure hides a number of smart, efficient and sustainable elements that have allowed it to achieve Net Zero status. building.

Recently opened to students, the new Boston University (BU) Center for Computing and Data Science is 19 stories tall and spans 345,000 square feet, making it the University’s tallest building and the city’s largest 100% fossil fuel-free building. . BU’s president claimed the iconic structure was created as a “conversation starter,” and aside from the bold aesthetic, the building’s green features are sparking a host of discussions about net-zero energy buildings.

The $305 million building is the result of a 2012 tender that whittled a long list of about 50 companies down to five contenders, with Toronto-based KPMB winning.

Each net zero building project has been forced to find ways to excel in renewable energy production, operational efficiency and emerged in an environment that enables such development. In this research note, we explore how the BU Center for Computing and Data Science achieved its net zero goals, to help us envision the future development of sustainable commercial real estate.

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While the new BU building features a wide range of advanced efficiency features (discussed below), the project’s key differentiator is its power generation capacity, namely the inclusion of on-site geothermal energy. 31 closed-loop geothermal wells extending 1,500 underground combined with high-efficiency concentric heat exchangers to maximize heat pump energy extraction from the ground

Due to site space limitations, the wells had to go much deeper than a typical geothermal system to achieve the projected 300 tons of heating and cooling capacity. However, by locating the 27 boreholes outside the floor plan of the building, with only four boreholes directly below, there was less impact on the deep foundation excavation and construction time was reduced. Dennis Carlberg, associate vice president for sustainability at BU, commented that “The Earth is basically a big battery, a thermal battery for us. And then in the winter, that heat returns outside, from the ground.”

The new BU building is also dependent on solar power generation, installing solar arrays on site and in nearby buildings that will generate about 1.2 million kWh of electricity annually for the center, representing more than 23% of the building’s electricity needs. While the rest of the demand for electricity is provided by direct connection to a dedicated wind farm. The building does not have a connection to the fossil fuel electricity grid, nor does it have a gas connection.

“No pipeline will be connected to it [the Center for Computing and Data Sciences]. Geothermal wells will provide most of the heating and cooling inside the building. Even the BU Blagovonica facilities in the building will function without gas. Instead, food will be prepared with an electric cooker.”

John J. Sbrega Health And Science Building, Fall River, Mass.

The new BU building was designed with a wide range of energy efficiency features to reduce consumption and demand for renewable energy sources. By addressing the building’s heating directly using geothermal sources, BU is already significantly reducing the load expected from the northern city’s HVAC system. The building also has a dedicated outdoor air system (DOAS) with high efficiency energy recovery and low flow plumbing.

Electrification has been encouraged in the rest of the facility, which is powered by an on-site solar plant and an off-site wind farm. A network of sensors transmits data to a building management system (BMS) to provide advanced automation and actionable insight. Building systems were carefully planned and selected to maximize energy efficiency, and The Green Engineer provided LEED certification project management, energy modeling for LEED and code compliance, and bylaw and zoning services for the city’s Article 37/Article 80 permitting Boston.

The building envelope uses external shades and triple-glazed glass to control heat and cooling in this northern city. Shades keep the building from overheating in the summer, while triple glazing keeps heat inside during the cold Boston winters. The building also uses diagonal louvered and saw blade facades which are also triple glazed and double e-coated to achieve a U-value of 0.21.

Its eight outdoor terraces each act as a green roof to reduce the heat island effect while promoting biophilic elements and high-efficiency LED lights that illuminate the center of the facility. It also has other eco-friendly features such as a system that transfers heat inside the building if one side gets more sun than the other. The building aims to be waste-free in the future.

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The building is deliberately made of sustainable materials to avoid a high embodied carbon cost. For the steel portion of the structural system, the design team worked very early in the process with the general contractor, Suffolk, and the steel supplier, Canatal, and two structural engineering firms, Entuitive and LeMessurier.

By determining the minimum material to join trusses, optimizing splice locations, minimizing cranes and field welding, and optimizing member sizes while considering availability and shipping distance, the team removed several tons of structural steel from the project beyond the typical efficiency expected from conventional structures with steel frame.

Concrete has emerged as another opportunity to reduce embodied carbon costs. Incorporating high levels of additional cementitious materials for lower clinker content, the custom designed ECOPact mixes significantly reduced the project’s carbon footprint while providing equal or better performance than conventional concrete.

Located in Boston, Massachusetts, the facility was already subject to some of the highest electricity prices in the US. The average commercial electricity price in Massachusetts is 19¢/kWh, 45% higher than the national average, as of December 2022. National Grid officials blamed the war in Ukraine, high demand and inflation for rising consumer bills, while Massachusetts-based Eversource said is “global pressures” as the reasons for the rate increase.

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According to a city report, buildings account for nearly 70% of Boston’s carbon emissions, with heating and cooling accounting for a significant portion of that. Consequently, the city strengthened the environmental elements of its building code and introduced various green building policies.

In recent years, some Massachusetts municipalities have attempted to accelerate the decarbonization of the construction sector through local regulations. In Boston, the City Council passed amendments in late 2021 that strengthened the Building Energy Reduction and Disclosure Ordinance, requiring large buildings to track and disclose their greenhouse gas emissions and then meet emission reduction goals over the next few years.

Massachusetts also adopted a “net-zero stretch code,” which will play a key role in proving that low-carbon buildings are affordable and desirable. While the federal government plans to expand financial incentives for efficient buildings, with Build Back Better legislation and tax credits for energy efficiency improvements, rooftop solar and electrification rebates, all encouraging more net-zero building projects.

Legally, there is no clear definition of “Net zero” and no federal or international standard for buildings in Massachusetts to follow, which has raised concerns among environmental groups. Ben Butterworth, senior manager of climate and energy analysis at the nonprofit Acadia Center, said the DOE is “kind of tipping the scales to encourage developers to build purely electric,” but they’re “not making an explicit requirement and that’s not what people hoped.”

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However, arguably the biggest motivator for BU to pursue net zero goals before others is the higher education vertical competing to attract new students from increasingly environmentally conscious younger generations. Concern for the environment remains a key issue for students worldwide, as they clearly demonstrate

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