Stone 34, a 130,000 sq. ft. mixed-use commercial office building, exceeded the aggressive performance standards of Seattle’s Living Building Pilot. The requirements of this program include achieving at least three of the seven petals in the "Living Building Challenge" plus showing a reduction in annual energy usage by 75% when compared to CBECS data, a reduction in potable water usage by 75% and re-use of at least 50% of storm water that hits the site. The Living Building Pilot requires validated performance after 12 continuous months of operation, and both the design team and ownership team faced financial penalties if the building failed to meet the program targets. This paper will explain the "bookend approach" that the design and ownership team used to ensure that the occupied building met the performance requirements.

This research project examines the complexity of conveyor dishwashers, benchmarking water and energy use of old and new dishwashers operating in facilities and identifying strategies to sustain the savings potential of high-efficiency machines. The catalyst for this study was receiving funding from Metropolitan Water District’s Innovative Conservation Grant Program and co-funding from Pacific Gas and Electric Company. These machines are the most water and energy intensive appliances in commercial kitchens with older dishwashers using two to three times their anticipated hot water use when factoring in the manufacturer’s specifications of rinse flow rate and tank volume.

Buildings consume 25% of global water and are responsible for 40% of the total world annual energy consumption. Buildings account for 72% end-use electricity in the U.S. with the largest portion spent for cooling and heating of buildings. The key issues for the future of building industry are related to saving of water and energy consumption, and delivering environmental benefits. The objective of this study is to quantify cooling/heating energy saving and rainwater saving due to vertical gardening in buildings by using controlled experiments and building energy modeling.