Colorado Court | Brooks + Scarpa

Colorado Court is one of the first buildings of its type in the United States that is 100% energy independent. Colorado Court distinguishes itself from most conventionally developed projects in that it incorporates energy efficient measures that exceed standard practice, optimize building performance, and ensure reduced energy use during all phases of construction and occupancy. The planning and design of Colorado Court emerged from close consideration and employment of passive solar design strategies. The concept of a building that would be energy self-sufficient emerged about two years ago, when Santa Monica officials met with members of the California Energy Coalition. The city's Housing Division, which funds construction of low-income housing, chose to make a low-income housing project into a dream project of "green" construction, and Colorado Court became the target. "We needed a demonstration project because a lot of developers feel that the technologies are unproven," said Robin Raida, project manager for Community Corporation. According to architect Lawrence Scarpa, "the project originally had different architects. At the time we took over, the City had required that the project be "green," but at that time, green meant using solar panels, and maybe a few other [environmentally friendly] things. We wanted to do much more than that." The building will be loaded with energy-saving and environmentally benign or "sustainable" devices. Heat from the micro-turbine will produce hot water, eliminating the need for a conventional water heater. The project also uses compact fluorescent lighting throughout the building, insulation made from recycled material and double-pane windows with a layer of heat-retardant krypton gas. Each apartment will be equipped with energy-saving refrigerators that do not use chlorofluorocarbons, the widely used refrigerant linked to damage in the Earth's ozone layer. Prevailing breezes will cool the building, which will have no mechanical air conditioners. The U-shaped structure "acts like a giant wind scoop," said architect Lawrence Scarpa, a principal of Santa Monica-based Brooks + Scarpa. Also in place is a system of water reclamation that began as a requirement of the City, but has again taken on bigger proportions. "The city has a demonstration project for stormwater reclamation," explains Scarpa, "and for this building to comply we needed to mitigate at least 20% of the stormwater run-off. Instead, thanks to an ambitious underground chamber system, and the coincidental fact that Colorado Court is located "at the low end of the alley," Brooks + Scarpa project director for Colorado Court Angela Brooks estimates that the project will mitigate almost 100% of the entire block's stormwater run-off. The stormwater goes into the underground chambers, and is then slowly reabsorbed back into the earth. Colorado Court features several state of the art technologies that distinguish it as a model demonstration building of sustainable energy supply and utilization. These technologies include a natural gas powered turbine/heat recovery system that will generate the base electrical load and hot water demands for the building and a solar electric panel system integrated into the façade and roof of the building that will supply most of the peak load electricity demand. The co-generation system will convert utility natural gas to electricity to meet the base load power needs of the building and will capture waste heat to produce hot water for the building throughout the year as well as space heating needs in the winter. The affordable-housing development will generate "green electricity" from dual sources, neither of which releases pollutants into the environment. A photovoltaic array of 199 solar panels on the building’s facade and roof will supply most of the peak-load energy demand. A natural-gas-powered microturbine generator on the roof will supplement the solar array and will also capture its own waste heat to use for residents’ heating and hot water. If all goes according to plan, the building will produce 100% of its own power, with SCE supplying the rest. Implementation of the project team’s ambitious scheme to return excess power from the solar panels and microturbine to SCE’s grid during daytime hours, to be retrieved at night as needed is key to the building’s near energy independence. It also requires the installation of a "net-metering" system. "If we net-meter, our utility bills will be zero. If we don’t net-meter, we’ll have a small energy bill," says Brooks. When use of the net-metering system was prohibited by the utility’s regulations, which had been drafted to conform to PUC mandates, the city of Santa Monica jumped into the fray. "The city has taken this project on as its little baby," says Lawrence Scarpa, the Brooks + Scarpa principal in charge of design and production. "The head of public works loves this [energy-efficiency] stuff." The city’s lobbyist, working with state senator Sheila Kuehl, went all the way to the California legislature to get the regulations changed. But nothing seems to dampen the designers’ enthusiasm for pioneering sustainable building solutions. "I’m telling commercial developers, ‘Look at this [solar-paneled] facade. It’s incredibly beautiful. You’re going to spend a bunch of money anyway, and this is a great look – and you can do something good for the environment,’" says Scarpa. "People say it’s expensive to integrate solar power. But I believe it should be done. Third-world countries can do it. We are the most technologically advanced country in the world. Why can’t we do it?"