The tenants of 502 Rigsbee have been just as excited about the building’s energy performance as Lanou and Mehlman. “I sent out an email that explained we’re actually generating 61 percent of the energy we use after one year in the building, and our tenants wanted to share the news on their social-media sites,” Mehlman remembers. “I am proud of that and proud that they are, too.”
Lanou and Mehlman also have been using alternative fuels, such as biodiesel, to power BuildSense’s fleet of vehicles for the past nine years. Two vehicles still run on biodiesel; eight others are fueled with compressed natural gas. A compressed natural gas filling station is erected across the street from 502 Rigsbee. “It’s basically a giant compressor and a couple tanks that hold the natural gas,” Lanou explains. “It comes out of the pipe like it does in your home though it’s at 3,800 psi at the filling station.”
Because there aren’t many compressed natural gas filling stations around, the vehicles also can run on regular fuel. After filing a recent quarterly report, the partners discovered they are saving $1,600 per month by operating most of BuildSense’s fleet on compressed natural gas. “In terms of aligning with our vision, burning compressed natural gas in our vehicles produces about 25 percent to one-third of the typical emissions of a gasoline-powered vehicle,” Lanou states. “And the fuel is harvested in America.”
On the Leading Edge
BuildSense’s website contains a list of the firm’s achievements. Among its many awards are several firsts, including the first certified sustainable house built in North Carolina, the first rainwater used for toilet flushing, the first plumbing manifold system installed in a residence, etc. “We like actually working with the inspectors because a lot of times they’ve never seen something and get excited about it, too,” Mehlman says.
Although their experiments may not always work, Lanou and Mehlman won’t hesitate to try again to help move the industry forward as a whole. “We’d be open to installing new wind turbines on our building,” Mehlman says. “We’d like to track the real energy production of building-mounted turbines in this area of North Carolina.”
Trying new things, monitoring their performance and tweaking until their building is practically perfect makes Durham’s “green guys” feel like kids waking up to Christmas morning every day. “We made a list with our staff before we retrofitted this building, and the No. 1 priority was that the building represented our business,” Lanou explains. “I think for me the single-most satisfying thing about this building is that I have a concrete example of our values that I can show folks. That’s really fun!”
Retrofit Materials
Vapor-intrusion system: Geo-Seal from Land Science Technologies
Solar panels: Sharp NU-U240F1
Snowguards: 5- by 5-inch Clear Diamond Texture Sno Gem
Roof: CF42R 6-inch insulated metal panel from Metl-Span
Tubular skylights: Solatube International Inc.
Glass/windows: Sun Metals Systems aluminum storefront windows with a combination of PPG Solarban 60 and 70 glass
Exterior lights: CLED 2×10 and WPLED10 and SLED5 from RAB Lighting
Interior LED emergency lighting: Lithonia
Fluorescent lighting: CurVista CVSL and Curv CVWM wall mount from Alera and EMX24-2-T8 from Columbia Lighting
Occupancy sensors: Wattstopper
Conference room sliding doors: Two 7- by 8-foot fir doors from TruStile
Hardware: Real Sliding Hardware
Custom door pulls: BuildSense Inc.
Interior paint: Harmony from The Sherwin-Williams Co.
Ceiling tile: Fine Fissured Tegular tile No. 1732, 2- by 2-foot, from Armstrong
Polished concrete floor finish: Everclear VOX Acrylic Sealant from The Euclid Chemical Co.
Heat-recovery ventilator: Nu-Air
Energy monitoring system: eGauge
Low-flow toilets: Drake II, 1.28 gallons per flush, from TOTO
Low-flow bathroom fixtures: 523-WFHGM-DF, 0.4 gallon per minute, from Delta
Mini hot-water heaters at all bathroom sinks: EX1608TC 16.6KW tankless water heaters from Eemax