The Role of Engineering: The Climate Emergency,
the Living Building Challenge and You.
Kathleen Hetrick – BuroHappold Engineering
Senior Mechanical Engineer
UT ARCH-E Proud!
SANTA MONICA: A LIVING CITY + LIVING BUILDING CHALLENGE
Santa Monica: A Sustainable City of Wellbeing• Sustainable City Plan - 1994
• 15 x 15 Climate Action Plan
• Water Self-Sufficiency by 2023
• 100% Green Power (CPA)
• 100% Renewable Energy Goal for Big Blue Bus Fleet
• 7.5 MW Solar Capacity Installed by 2020
• Carbon Neutrality by 2050
• Mandatory Solar on All New Construction
• First City to Require ZNE for all New Homes
• Water Neutrality Ordinance
• First Municipality to Construct a Living Building
Climate Emergency
Cities
Not
Cities
GLOBAL CO2
EMISSIONS
Building
Operations
Embodied
Carbon
Industry
Transportation
Other
GLOBAL CO2 BY
SECTOR
40%70%
DOUBLE BUILDING
STOCK BY 2060
A new
NYC every
month
CITY SERVICES BUILDING DESIGN BUILD PROJECT TEAM
FREDERICK AND FISHER PARTNERS + HDCCO + BUROHAPPOLD
THE LIVING BUILDING CHALLENGE: BEYOND MERELY BEING LESS BAD AND TO BECOME TRULY REGENERATIVE.
THE LIVING BUILDING CHALLENGE: BEYOND ENERGY
CITY SERVICES BUILDING
SITE PLAN
OLYMPIC DRIVE VIEW
BUILDING SYSTEMS
NZE STRATEGY: RENEWABLE SYSTEMSo ANNUAL ENERGY GENERATED = ENERGY DEMAND
o SOLAR PHOTOVOLTAIC POWER GENERATION (APPROX. 200 KW ARRAY)
NZE STRATEGY: ACTIVE SYSTEMSo RADIANT HEATING AND COOLING EMBEDDED IN THE SLAB
o AIR SOURCE HEAT PUMPS (NO COMBUSTION) TO HEAT HOT WATER FOR BOTH
DOMESTIC WATER AND RADIANT SLAB USE
o OPTIMIZED CONTROLS
o CONVENTIONAL VAV SYSTEM FOR PEAK CONDITIONS
NZE STRATEGY: PASSIVE SYSTEMS o HIGH PERFORMANCE GLAZING TO MINIMIZE SOLAR GAIN
o WEATHER STATION FOR OPTIMIZED CONTROLS WITH AUTOMATED NATURAL
VENTILATION
o DAY LIGHTING CONTROLS
o EXPANDED COMFORT CRITERIA (70 TO 78°F)
o LOCALIZED CONTROL WITH DESK FANS AND OPERABLE WINDOWS
BUILDING SYSTEMS
NZW STRATEGY: RAIN TO POTABLE
o RAINWATER TO BE COLLECTED FROM NSF CERTIFIED ROOF AND PV CANOPY
o STATE WATER RESOURCES CONTROL BOARD – DIVISION OF DRINKING WATER (DDW) TO PERMIT
o FOOD GRADE ROOFING AND COMPONENTS WILL BE USED THROUGHOUT
o TESTING TO BE CONDUCTED BY DDW STANDARDS
GREY WATER RECYCLING
o GREY WATER FROM SHOWERS AND LAVATORIES TO BE CAPTURED AND TREATED TO NSF 350
STANDARDS
o WORKED WITH LA COUNTY HEALTH DEPARTMENT TO PERMIT
o IRRIGATION DEMAND TO BE MET FROM RECYCLED GREY WATER
NZW STRATEGY: DROUGHT CONDITIONS
o IN TIMES OF DROUGHT, THE SYSTEM WILL BE TOPPED UP WITH WELL WATER
UNPRECEDENTED GREEN BUILDING
1ST IN CALIFORNIA
RAINWATER TO POTABLE
LARGEST IN CALIFORNIA
COMPOSTING TOILETS
UNPRECEDENTED GREEN BUILDING
GREYWATER – EDIBLE LANDSCAPE
UNPRECEDENTED GREEN BUILDING
Status: On Budget & On Schedule for 4/22/2020
South Stair Open Workspace Roof Ready for Solar
Healthy Buildings?
Healthy Buildings for All?
Building Users
Design
2-5x Higher exposure to VOCs
than outdoors
Or Only for Some?
Building Users
Design
2-5x Higher exposure to VOCs
than outdoors
First-Responders
14% Higher risk of dying from cancer
than general population
End of Life
Workers
Procurement
74x Allowed exposure to
Formaldehyde than WELL or LEED
Communities
Externalities
20%Of US population within 1-
mile of at least one polluting facility.
Growing Complexity
Chemical Regulation
Business as Usual
How Much is Too Much?
Cumulative Impacts
3.9 Billion Pounds Annually!
Pollution Burden + Equity
10.39 0.02 0.32 13.49 1.73
374.37
517.24
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
ONSITE EMISSIONS POPULATION BURDEN (LBS/PERSON)
The True Impact of Design
Who are We Designing for?Regenerative DesignNatural Ventilation?Rainwater Reuse?Biophilic Design?Urban Agriculture?Human Scale?
Vs
95th percentile for:Air Toxic Respiratory IndexCancer RiskSuperfund DesignationHazardous Waste Proximity
Small Steps, Huge Impact
Go Beyond the Day job
Beyond 40 hour work week
Emerging Technology
The New Normal
Where’s the industry going?
• Embodied Carbon + Structures
• Parametric modeling + Energy Modeling
• Zero Waste + Circular Economy
• Net Zero Energy Campus + City Carbon Planning
• Sustainable Water +Plumbing Engineering and Policy
• Circadian Lighting Design + Daylighting
• Revit + Dynamo (Computational Design)
• Virtual Reality + Storytelling
• Triple Bottom Line: Social, Health and Environmental