In the last seven years, the building has also
updated its cooling towers, significantly reducing water usage in the building. Specifically,
water consumption went from more than 16
million gallons in 2003 to just over 6 million
gallons in 2004 after the new cooling tower was
installed.
To further improve water consumption, the
Portland Building recently underwent a water
audit, which revealed a number of areas that
could be improved. While the exact results of
the audit were unavailable at press time, Gibson
noted that the audit suggested retrofitting rest-room plumbing fixtures with more efficient
low-flow urinals and dual flush toilets. The
audit also identified a water source heat pump
that was operating improperly. After correcting
that issue alone, the building has seen its water
use drop by almost 35 percent.
“Although every attempt can be made to
make sure a building is operating appropriately,
performing audits allows for errors and improperly functioning equipment to be found, which
can result in huge savings,” Gibson said.
With the City of Portland’s goal to recycle
85 percent of the city’s trash by 2015, Portland
Building management has implemented a
wide-scale recycling and composting program
designed to decrease waste sent to the landfill
and reduce the building’s methane gas emissions. A waste audit in 2008 found one-third of
the building’s waste was compostable.
Not only are recycling and composting the
most environmentally friendly ways to manage
waste, added economic bonuses are possible:
“If you are composting enough trash, you will
eventually pay less to compost than you would
to utilize the trash,” Gibson said.
With its forward-thinking green programs,
the Portland Building’s improvements may
inspire other office buildings city-wide.
“Pursing LEED for Existing Buildings will be
a really good example of [how to improve an
office building like this],” Gibson said. “This
may change the way in which people look at the
building. They can say, ‘It may not be aesthetically pleasing, but look at its green roof, look at
the recycling rate and look at all those wonderful [green] things they are doing there.’” n
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