‘Living building’ set to go

Project in Kenton aims to create all its own energy

By Toby Van Fleet

Pamplin Media Group, Dec 11, 2007, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (1 Reader comment)

SARAH TOOR / PAMPLIN MEDIA GROUP

A brainstorming session brings together (from left) Omid Nabipoor of Interface Engineering, R. Peter Wilcox of Renewal Associates, Maria Cahill of MGH Associates and Clark Brockman of SERA Architects to plan a “living building,” which requires net-zero energy use.

It sounds like a cross between a college dorm, a California commune and the 1990s Biosphere ecosystem experiment.

In Kenton.

At the corner of North Interstate Avenue and Watts Street, a seed has been planted.

And if the conditions are just right, a year from now it will have grown into a solar-panel-topped dwelling hosting several one-bedroom apartments that include composting toilets and showers that use purified rainwater.

But instead of the traditional self-contained living units to which most of us are accustomed, renters here will share common kitchens and living spaces, and, most likely, a commitment to the environment.

“It’s shared living in a more modern way,” says project developer R. Peter Wilcox of Renewal Associates LLC. “It’s going to take some effort to live here.”

The building-to-be, currently in the design process, is one in the first generation of projects born out of the Living Building Challenge.

The “challenge” is a building certification that requires an unprecedented level of self-sufficiency in a building, including renewable energy and recycled water systems that completely meet the needs of the occupants in place of the traditional power and water supplies.

The certification as a living building, available to both new and existing buildings, commercial or residential, is awarded only after a year of building use, when it can be proven that the dwelling’s own systems have sustained its use.

That self-sufficiency is “absolutely a necessity,” says Jason McLennan, who wrote the standard before being hired as chief executive officer of the Cascadia Green Building Council, a regional chapter of the nonprofit known for its certifications of LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) building standards.

Wilcox, trained as an architect and an economist, first heard about the challenge last year at the U.S. Green Building Council’s annual conference.

Energy and water are just two of the six requirements, or “petals,” of the challenge. Projects also must meet stringent guidelines for site location, indoor light and air quality, materials and even “beauty and inspiration.”

Single-petal recognition is another certification option.

Taking into account the role of buildings in global warming (about half of the carbon dioxide emitted in the U.S. is attributed to buildings), in addition to ever-increasing energy prices, and carbon taxes likely to come down the pike, McLennan says, living buildings will become models for future building.

To be clear, the challenge itself is not a competition any more than participants choose to make it one.

But the language implies the question: Can it be done?

The Kenton apartment complex, currently in the design process, will hold nine units and two shared kitchens. It will be built on the foundation of a duplex that now sits on the lot. Wilcox plans to move and sell the current building.

Net zero’s a big challenge

“The work so far has been in figuring out the energy and water equations,” says Wilcox, who is working with SERA Architects Inc. on the project.

A living building must show net-zero energy and water use for a year. Net zero means that what is consumed equals what is produced.

So net-zero energy would mean that in a year, those shiny, south-facing solar panels will have generated enough energy to provide all the power needs of the building’s occupants. This usually means sending extra power back into the grid when solar rays are abundant, and drawing from that excess when the days are short and gray.

But key to the success, of course, is a substantial reduction in the demand for power, through building techniques as well as fixtures and appliances that help lighten the load. Wilcox says that his building will be designed to be 71 percent more energy efficient than the current building code requires.

Water, however, is another matter, even in the rainy Pacific Northwest.

“That was the hard one,” says SERA’s Lisa Petterson, the project architect, who, like Wilcox, is visibly excited about the challenge. “How do you first cut down the amount you’re using?”

All apartments will have composting toilets that will require less than a gallon of water per use.

The complex will collect rainwater in a 40,000-gallon tank in the basement, and it will be purified on-site. Wilcox and Petterson estimate that each tenant will need to use less than 18 gallons of water a day to achieve the net-zero water goal.

For contrast, Lake Oswego, an area of more traditional suburban development, reported a per capita daily water use this fall of 117 gallons.

“The idea isn’t to deprive people,” Petterson says, adding that she takes five-minute showers and doesn’t feel like she’s missing anything.

But even with conservation efforts in full force, Wilcox estimates that the complex will be about 10 percent short on water.

State building codes do not allow the recycling of gray water (the wastewater, usually soapy, that goes down the drain after washing dishes, clothes, ourselves) — even for toilet flushing.

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