september 2008 Issue
The Summit Series
A Great Environment for Children
The CDC is the most heavily instrumented building in North America. Nearly everything in this building can be directly monitored, from the boilers to the elevators. This creates an ideal environment for applied research and experiential learning.
-Dr. Jim Love, P.Eng.
The University of Calgary and the Calgary Health Region decided their new building was going to be as environmentally friendly as current technology would allow. Isn’t it suiting, then, that children are among those who benefit from this Summit Award-winning centre?
BY FRANCINE MAXWELL
The PEGG
It began as an environmentally friendly structure for a first-class children’s development centre. What it became is a shining example of green innovation and environmentally conscious construction.
The University of Calgary’s Child Development Centre, or CDC for short, is a joint project with the Calgary Health Region. It employs leading-edge innovations in an environmentally conscious design. It is the highest rated building in Canada under the trademarked Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design system. It is the highest cold-climate LEED-rated building in the world.
Indeed, the 2008 Environment and Sustainability Summit Award winner has become nothing less than a beacon of green technology.
Jim Love, P.Eng., served as the energy engineer on the project, coming to the job with plenty of credentials. He is a professor with the University of Calgary’s Department of Environmental Design, and also the Sustainable Building Technologies Chair.
The CDC is a first of its kind, he notes, and will be a benchmark for future buildings. “The CDC is the most heavily instrumented building in North America,” says Dr. Love, who was among the participants on hand to accept the Summit Award earlier this year in Edmonton.
“Nearly everything in this building can be directly monitored, from the boilers to the elevators. This creates an ideal environment for applied research and experiential learning.”
The $30-million structure is the result of a collaboration of at least eight companies. Everything down to the site itself was considered during the design of this marvel of green technology.
“There were several site choices available,” says Dr. Love. “We selected the site for its massing opportunities, especially in terms of solar exposure. From there, attention was paid to
every detail.”
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Details such as toilets. They use grey water — water that has been recycled and is not for human consumption. Recycling centres are on each of the four floors. Tankless, high-efficiency domestic water heaters and condensing gas boilers, waterless urinals, low flow dual flush toilets and environmentally friendly paint are all part of the building.
Landscaping is water efficient and low maintenance. Concrete contains as much as 75 per cent post-industrial recycled content. The Sarnafil roofing system boasts high reflectivity and emissivity to reduce cooling loads.
A grid on the south wall is made up of the largest number of photovoltaic panels yet used on a building in Western Canada. The panels convert the sun’s energy into electrical energy that feeds power to the building. They are capable of generating 65,000 kilowatt hours of electricity — enough to supply six single family homes or meet 20 per cent of the building’s electricity use.
There’s no doubt this level of achievement is difficult to reach. Even so, the CDC isn’t intended as a one-off. It was built as an example for other builders to follow.
“All of the innovations we used are out there now. Some are more expensive than others but they could certainly be employed in any building,” says Dr. Love.
In the end, all the innovation will mean big savings to the university, which covers the operational costs.“There is a reduction of about 71 per cent in energy cost. That translates into $1 million in savings in energy costs over about five years,” says Dr. Love.
The percentage reduction is calculated through simulations. They compare the CDC as designed to what it would be like if it met more traditional standards, such as wall insulation and boiler efficiency that meet Canada’s Model National Energy Code for Buildings. Ongoing studies will be used to find out whether the building does all it claims to.
“The CDC is a research facility. Some of these technologies are being more widely used than they were, but they’ve been subjected to little rigorous evaluation. We hope the lessons learned will benefit the building industry and society,” says Dr. Love.
Some of that research will involve the 130,000-square-foot building’s interesting ventilation systems. There’s displacement ventilation with wall-mounted diffusers on the main floor, under-floor air distribution on the others. Dr. Love’s students will monitor the systems to evaluate their performance in a working building — something rarely done.
Traditional Timeline
It adds up to a careful and well-planned job. But time was a major challenge, too. The design and
construction were completed in just over two years, about the same timeframe a typical building of this size and type would need.
The expectation, however, was that it would achieve high environmental performance in many areas.
“Pretty fast for a building this size. But all the people involved communicated and collaborated effectively.
The end result was a building full of green innovations at every turn,” says Dr. Love.
“Earning a LEED platinum rating as we did was an achievement. That was one of our biggest challenges, to get that kind of certification in a cold climate. There are still only about 60 platinum buildings in the world.”
It just makes sense that some of tomorrow’s leaders — the very children who are the current users of the building — will grow up being inspired by the building. The CDC teams led by example. Now, it’s up to others to follow.
The Environment and Sustainability Award recognizes excellence in the application of engineering, geological and geophysical methods for the preservation of the environment and the practice of sustainable development.