GREEN
BUILDING

The Phillips Eco-Enterprise Center (PEEC) is The Green Institute’s flagship and a national model of comprehensive sustainable design. The building was a pilot for and helped inform the creation of the United States Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (USGBC’s LEED), which has in the last ten years risen within the green building movement as the preeminent national green building standard.

Architect: LHB Engineers & Architects Sirny Architects
Contractor: Kraus-Anderson Consultant: The Weidt
Group Developer: The Green Institute
Project Type: Office/Light Industrial
Location: Minneapolis, Minnesota
Project Size: 64,000 sq ft
Construction Cost: $6 million
Project Timeline: 11 months

Goal 1: Ensure Occupant Health

• Solar-tracking skylights increase natural daylight in the building and reduce the overall energy load to ensure low operating costs for manufacturing tenants.
• Operable Windows can be opened to the outside and have low-emissive glazing to reduce solar gain without compromising indoor air quality. Their frames were made with a composite material of soybeans and recycled newspaper.
• Low-Emission Paints and Finishes reduce off-gassing of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) characteristic of traditional paints.
• Bathroom Showers encourage bicycle commuting. The Midtown Greenway, an east-west bicycle highway, and the Hiawatha light rail transit corridor, including a north-south bike trail, are both immediately adjacent to the building.
• An Energy Management System monitors temperature, carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide levels throughout the building to manage HVAC systems and to maintain an optimum working environment while minimizing energy use.

Goal 2: Reduce Energy Load

• The Geo-exchange System heats and cools the 22,000 square-foot office portion of the building by transferring heat between the building and the ground through 120 sixty-foot deep wells.
• The Stairway was strategically placed in the entrance lobby to encourage its use over the elevator.
• The 34 kilowatt Photovoltaic Array provides approximately 1/4 of the annual power needs of the office portion of the building.
• The Energy Recovery Ventilator is an air-to-air heat exchanger that captures the energy of the air being exhausted to heat (or cool) the incoming fresh air.
• Our High-Efficiency Lighting System includes energy efficient T-8 fluorescent and metal halide artificial lighting integrated with occupancy and daylight sensors. Sensors monitor daylight and occupancy to switch lights on and off as needed.

Goal 3: Use High Quality Salvaged and Recycled Materials

• Reused materials include, but are not limited to, 22,000 hundred-year-old bricks, restroom sinks, fire extinguisher boxes, cabinets, benches, outside decks and remanufactured workstations.
• Reused Steel Joists were salvaged from a warehouse in Washington County, MN, saving an estimated 50 tons of new steel and 110 million BTUs of energy needed to manufacture that amount of steel.
• Parking Lot Blacktopping is derived from 50% recycled sources.
• Recycled Content Tiles are a decorative feature in each restroom.
• The Stairway includes treads re-milled from 75-year-old-Douglas Fir beams that were salvaged from a U.S. Army warehouse, saving approximately 804 board feet of virgin timber.
• Construction Site Recycling was planned up-front and through aggressive work with subcontractors. Over 78% of demolition and construction-generated waste, by weight, was recycled or reused.
• Natural Linoleum flooring, made from linseed oil, covers the lobby areas and hallways. The material requires only mild soap and water for maintenance and is degradable. Other floors are covered with Solenium, which is 100% recyclable after its use and uses 60 % fewer materials to manufacture than a traditional carpet.

Goal 4: Restore Native Landscape and Conserve Water

• Native Prairie Restoration requires little maintenance and no fertilizers. Our landscaping plan did not preclude additional watering, saving an estimated 560,000 gallons of water per year.
• An On-site Stormwater Retention/Biofiltration System treats stormwater on our four-acre site directly by filtering it of oil and sediment and, in turn, preventing an estimated 1.5 million gallons of runoff from entering the storm-sewer system each year.
• The Green Rooftop helps to retain stormwater by replacing some of the green space that was eliminated by the building footprint while providing an inhabitable communal space for occupants and visitors. This 4,000 square foot roof features two plant communities, including native river bluff species, and a deck constructed from recycled plastic lumber.

Goal 5: Advanced Design

• Designed for Disassembly and Reuse, PEEC is adaptable to future needs. The high-bay manufacturing space, for example, can be built out in the future as two floors of office space.
• Local Suppliers, defined as those producing within a 300-mile radius of the building site, provided more than 90% of construction materials and installed equipment.
• Burnished Blocks feature a polished finish and aggregate variation, which obviate the need for an application of sheetrock. The total material used was reduced without sacrificing the visual appeal of the wall. The burnished blocks saved 2,600 BTUs energy per square foot of construction.
• The Elimination of Dropped Ceilings meant 26,000 fewer square feet of materials were required. A single pound of aluminum used to build a ceiling suspension system, for example, requires 103,500 BTUs of energy to manufacture.
• Pre-Cast Concrete Panels have an embedded pigment which eliminates the need for painting. Ten percent of the aggregate in the structural portion of the panels was replaced with fly ash, saving 53 cubic yards of aggregate.

Combining superior occupant health and energy efficiency strategies, the PEEC offers tenant firms the most productive and efficient work environment available in the market. Current tenants at the Phillips Eco-Enterprise Center are some of the most forward thinking for-profit and non-profit businesses in the Twin Cities.

Community Action of Minneapolis – Weatherization Office
Nonprofit that conducts home weatherization to promote energy conservation.
(612) 335-5911

Corporation for Supportive Housing
Nonprofit which provides technical assistance to organizations developing supportive housing.
(612) 721-3700

Energy Conservatory
Firm that manufactures and sells diagnostic tools to measure building performance problems.
(612) 827-1117

Great Plains Institute for Sustainable Development
Nonprofit that promotes environmentally sustainable development in the great plains regions of Canada and the United States.
(612) 278-7150

Headwaters Foundation for Justice
Nonprofit providing grant writing and organizational assistance to grassroots efforts to address the eradication of social injustice.
(612) 879-0602

Native Americans in Philanthropy
Non-profit that promotes, facilitates and celebrates philanthropic giving to Native communities from both Native and non-Native donors.
(612) 724-8798

Center for Progressive Philanthropy/Progressive Technology Project
Non-profit devoted to strengthening poor communities and communities of color by providing technical assistance, and fundraising support.
(612) 724-2600

Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders (APPI) in Philanthropy
National network of non-profit institutions devoted to connecting AAPI communities with charitable resources.
(612) 729-9507

Interior Tropicals, Inc.
Interior landscaping firm that specializes in tropical plants.
(612) 333-1613

Kevin Fox and Associates
Fundraising consultants providing annual fund development, foundation grant writing services, event management and marketing, sponsorship sales, and partnership marketing.
(651) 231-3300

Nonprofits Assistance Fund
Nonprofit lender that provides funding to entrepreneurs and nonprofits through loan programs.
(612) 278-7180

Peace Coffee
Fair-trade coffee distributors.
(888) 324-7872

Techfluent
IT system and network integration experts.
(612) 638-1300

SGH, Inc.
Architectural Concepts - Formerly Valley Building Products Firm specializing in engineered building components.
(612) 287-9780

Will Steger Foundation
Non-profit promoting environmental awareness, particularly of global warming, through education, advocacy and cooperation on an international scale.
(612) 278-7147

Contact: Helen Spry, Building/Office Admin, (612) 278-7122.