INNOVATION July-August 2012

f ea t u r e s

The result is a building that’s bright inside even on a cloudy day, meeting the goal of creating a building that is 100% day lit. Artificial lighting is available when the amount of daylight simply isn’t sufficient and it comes with dimming sensors and motion sensors to limit unnecessary use. You might think the auditorium, with its wood ceiling, would need a large supply of supple- mental light, but it, too, is naturally well lit by two narrow skylights running the length of both sides. “When UBC turns on the CIRS building, the university’s energy bill goes down and the net green- house gas emissions go down, kind of like magic,” sums up McCarry. “CIRS is doing a really good job on the energy side and an even better job on the car- bon emission side.” Water is Not Waste While its energy systems are largely out of sight, water and wastewater treatment systems at CIRS are in plain view. Rainfall is directed either to an underground cistern for treatment and use inside the building, or—if the rain falls on the green roof—it’s redirected to the natural aquifer 90 metres under- ground. Not a drop is sent to the municipal storm sewer that discharges on local bodies of water. Nor did CIRS designers want to depend on the municipality for treating its wastewater; part of being sustainable means having a closed loop water cycle. Most conventional wastewater treatment plants use chemicals and are not closed loop. The answer was to create a system that mimics nature, where plants and bacteria in a wetland environment treat liquid waste biologically. Eco-Tek, Ecological

(EOS) building next door had big fume hoods with exhaust coming out of them. At about 3 o’clock one morning, not long after, he had his “a-ha” moment. He wrote down his idea on a notepad beside his bed and went back to sleep. Crunching the numbers during the next days, McCarry realized they could capture enough waste heat from the EOS building to heat the CIRS building, with enough left over to return to EOS to pre-heat the air for space ventilation. A ground source geo-exchange field and a solar hot water system supplement CIRS’s energy requirements, as do photovoltaic cells on the atrium skylight and on the window shades. As well, the sunny west side of the building features a “living” wall, planted with decidu- ous chocolate vines that will shade the building in summer and allow light through in winter. The design of the CIRS building was instrumental in keeping energy demand as low as possible. The building has two narrow wings connected by the atrium and auditorium in the middle. Each of the wings is just 10 metres wide, with large windows that open, allowing light to penetrate deeply and fresh air to come in. “We wanted everyone to have access to daylight, we wanted everyone to have access to natural ventilation,” says Cayuela, “and that means we have a higher exte- rior wall to floor ratio and we have a higher volume for floor area than in a typical building.” It helps that walls along the inside corridor are glass and open at the top so light and air travels unimpeded. (Soundproof rooms are available if someone needs to have a private conversation.)

Technologies, based in Langley, BC, was asked to design and build one of its Solar Aquatics Systems for treat- ing wastewater. Since education and outreach are part of the CIRS mission, the wastewater treatment plant wouldn’t be hidden. “We made the decision to actually try to make it a key part of the building by putting it in the most prominent location,” says Cayuela. Large black plastic tanks and tubs are housed in a glassed-in corner of the building that you walk past to reach the front door. But with all the lush tropical plants, the effect is more greenhouse than outhouse. Very little needs to be trucked away at the end of the treatment process. The resulting water is cleaner than the rain that lands on the roof. It’s used for flushing toilets and urinals, and irrigating. Not only does the CIRS treatment facility look after all its own wastewater but it’s also capable of treating the

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