West Coast developer Gerding Edlen Development has set an ambitious five-year corporate objective of building real estate projects that produce more energy than they consume. With the $2.2 billion mixed-use Portland South Waterfront brownfield redevelopment that they are co-developing with Williams and Dame Development, they started with the goal of saving 50 percent energy usage relative to conventional construction. One of the lead buildings in the new district, the Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU) facility, is certified LEED Platinum with energy savings pegged at 60 percent due in part to solar sun shades integrated into the south facade. The building also features onsite power generation from a gas-fired cogeneration (Combined Heat and Power, CHP) plant. The OHSU facility alone is estimated to save 2,100 metric tons of CO2, annually.

In Redding, Connecticut, Georgetown Land Development is changing the way outer fringe growth is accommodated, featuring unique energy-saving elements. The project, a redevelopment of the old Gilbert & Bennett Wire Mill, will accommodate 1,000 to 1,200 new residents and 1,500 permanent jobs, centered on a reopened commuter train station. The developer is reinstalling the turbine on the site’s 18-foot waterfall that powered the wire mill for many years. The resulting hydroelectric dam will provide electricity for one of the commercial buildings. Photovoltaics and a fuel-cell system, which relies on chemistry rather than combustion and results in fewer emissions than even the cleanest combustion process, will generate clean electric power. ...

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