SPARK

Discoveries, innovations, and insights that illuminate the future of the built environment

Facility improvements deliver big benefits for Larson Ice Center

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There are more than 4,000 municipal and community ice arenas currently operating across the U.S. These ice arenas offer communities a healthy way to connect and stay active. Maintaining ice arenas facilities can be challenging and improving them can be costly. Additionally, the energy and operational costs needed to run ice arenas continues to increase year after year.

Ice arenas are complex facilities. To provide a quality ice surface, they must maintain proper ice temperature with appropriate amounts of humidity, all while maintaining a comfortable environment for the athletes, coaches, spectators, facility managers and the members of the community who attend events at the facility.

McKinstry partners with ice arenas and recreational facilities across the country to develop and implement solutions to address deferred maintenance items and make improvements to the facility with the goal of reducing energy and operational spend. We are passionate about the game and committed to finding ways to make hockey and other ice activities affordable for everyone.

McKinstry works hard to drive down ice arena operating costs. Our Midwest team, in particular, grew up on the ice as players, coaches and on-ice officials at the high school, collegiate and professional level. All of us have been hockey parents and one of our teammates is a current member of the off-ice officiating staff for the NHL. My colleague Susie MacMillan operated an ice arena before joining McKinstry. That passion for hockey and ice arenas is why the Brookings City Council in South Dakota trusted McKinstry to be their partner for the Larson Ice Center renovation project.

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Building a “happy place”

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Take a moment to close your eyes and picture your “happy place.” Perhaps you’re floating in a lake or hiking through the forests of the Pacific Northwest. Let your imagination open your senses and become fully immersed in that setting. Now—open your eyes. Were you imagining yourself indoors or outside?

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Andie Doyle.

At a recent conference I attended, a panelist asked the audience this question. It was during a Smart Home lecture, and—even then—80 percent of the participants said their happy place was outside.

This highlights a major opportunity within the building industry: To make indoor spaces happier and more desirable. It’s vital for construction industry leaders to work alongside technology innovators and service providers to change the optics of how a person interacts with their surroundings.

As of now, there’s no single industry or company with the resources or motivation to create a seamlessly integrated and connected experience for people. Consider, for example, the following hypothetical living and working situation.

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Energy Action Month spotlight: Adam Klein

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adamklein_employeespotlight

This week’s Energy Action Month employee spotlight is on Adam Klein, program manager for McKinstry! Starting in 2016, Adam took the initiative—along with Daniel Shaw, a Portland-based energy engineer—to obtain ENERGY STAR certifications for McKinstry-owned office buildings in Seattle and Portland.

Compared with their peers, an ENERGY STAR-certified office building uses (on average) 35 percent less energy, generates 35 percent fewer greenhouse gas emissions, costs $0.54 less per square foot to operate and has higher rental & occupancy rates. Adam joined McKinstry as an intern more than 12 years ago. Today, he is the program manager for McKinstry’s Technical Services Western Washington Annuity.

Q: Tell me about your role as an annuity program manager. What does a typical day look like?
A: As a program manager, my typical day involves going over client utility billing and Building Automation System interval data to review where successful low/no cost improvements have been made and to make new recommendations. Often there’s a lot of behind-the-scenes work required to gather and update information to keep a steady stream of data coming.

Q: I understand you received some good news earlier this year about our 2018 ENERGY STAR scores for our office buildings in Seattle and Portland, right?
A: To be eligible for ENERGY STAR certification, a building must earn an ENERGY STAR score of 75 or higher, indicating that it performs better than at least 75 percent of similar buildings nationwide. The most recent work was completed this spring, and I’m happy to say that McKinstry achieved an ENERGY STAR score of 92 for the 220 S. Dawson Street office building in Seattle and a score of 96 for the 5005 3rd Ave. S. office building in Seattle. Our Portland office building received an 88. The EPA-run certification is rated on a 100-point scale. I’m proud of our scores and grateful for the Workspace Solutions Team and other internal partners who help make it happen.

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Sylvia McIvor is passionate about helping save our planet

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sylviacollage

Sylvia McIvor joined McKinstry in March of 2018. Based out of our Chicago office, Sylvia is a senior account executive with the Illinois Energy Services team. In her role, she manages the development of business strategies for education and municipal customers in the Midwest region.

Q: Why did you choose McKinstry?
A: What drew me to McKinstry was the company’s cutting-edge view on sustainability as well as the environmental leadership and stewardship. There is so much opportunity here to grow the business, help our customers reduce their environmental impact and make a difference while doing it.

Q: I understand you are involved in the Climate Reality Project. Tell me more about that.
A: I’m fortunate to be working for a company (McKinstry) that supported me in applying for the opportunity, and I was thrilled to have been accepted into the Climate Reality Leadership Corps training. I was one of more than 2,200 attendees who joined former Vice President Al Gore in Los Angeles from Aug. 28-30 of this year (see the collage image above) to learn how to help lead the global fight for climate solutions.

It was a life-changing and awe-inspiring three days. The information and data presented were eye-opening, compelling and frightening, but also very hopeful. If we take action now to address carbon emissions, we can stop the damage and help the planet heal itself.

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Here’s how Alison Schwabe takes energy action at work and at home

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alison-schwabe-eam-qaAlison Schwabe joined McKinstry eight years ago and works in our Golden, Colo. office. As powerED program manager for the Mountain region, she works with schools, universities and local governments within the Mountain region to help them save energy and cut waste. She has also been instrumental in building the Mountain Region’s corporate stewardship team including rolling out the office’s composting program.

Q: How do you explain powerED?
A: Our powerED program is all about people and encouraging sustainable behaviors (like this month’s challenge). We drive awareness, action, and impact to help our clients save energy and cut waste through three key components. The first is PEOPLE. We engage building occupants and operators in a campaign to increase awareness and action around energy efficiency. The second is PROCESS, which involves working with our clients to help them identify and implement low- and no-cost energy-saving measures. The third is PERFORMANCE. We’re only as good as our results. We measure impact and demonstrate progress by tracking energy savings, carbon reduction, and other key benchmarks. I’m proud to say that through our powerED program to date, company-wide we’ve helped participating clients save $21.7 million in energy cost and cut carbon by 155,861 metric tons.

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Passion and creativity collide at Carson City School District

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Two hundred students, parents, teachers and school administrators from Carson City School District (CCSD) gathered at the Nevada Governor’s Mansion on May 24 to celebrate students taking part in McKinstry’s powerED program and Project ReCharge, a STEM-focused energy and sustainability curriculum program led by Envirolution.

CCSD hired McKinstry in May 2016 to conduct a comprehensive facility audit in search of energy savings. Dozens of potential improvements were identified, kicking off a $6.1 million contract spanning LED lighting retrofits, water conservation measures, heat pump replacements, improved HVAC systems and more.

McKinstry introduced powerED to CCSD students in October 2017. The program augments the district’s sustainability and STEM education initiatives by engaging students, staff and faculty in energy, water and waste conservation efforts. Ten CCSD schools are participating.

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Why simple incentives are the key to dynamic energy efficiency

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Photo by Mark Turnauckas, via Flickr.

Photo by Mark Turnauckas, via Flickr.

What do you think about when you consider extreme energy efficiency? Perhaps you think about gigantic solar arrays, intricate water reclamation technology, or slick computerized building controls.

While all those measures are well and good, you don’t have to buy fancy equipment or use luxury materials to achieve superior energy savings.

When it comes to lowering energy consumption, I believe that simple utility incentives—which are often just a few lines of text—may very well be our most powerful tool.

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A “passive” look at the future of energy efficiency

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Passive House in Portland

This Passive House—the “O2Haus” in Portland, Oregon—is one of the more than 120 certified by the Passive House Institute U.S. (PHIUS) since 2001. The house was designed by PDX Living. Interestingly, it’s also available to rent on Airbnb. Photo via Flickr & courtesy of PHIUS.

In writing the 2012 Seattle Energy Code, the Seattle Code Committee did something that is perhaps unprecedented in the history of municipal regulations.

Namely, the new code included a path to compliance that would allow developers to essentially do anything they wanted to a building, so long as the building plans met a few simple prerequisites and a strictly-defined energy performance target. This is a provision that provided developers with a unique degree of flexibility, while also giving the city real leverage in mandating energy efficiency.

While this new compliance path in Seattle is optional (there are three other paths that design teams can use to comply with the code), it represents a shift in energy policy that is truly groundbreaking in America. This alternate compliance path is one of the first true “performance-based” codes in the country, and it represents a glimpse of the future.

Quite frankly, the modern construction industry evolved during a time when high performance wasn’t required in the built environment.

That time, however, is passing.

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LED streetlights need smart controls

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Difference in LED vs. high-pressure sodium streetlights.

Before and after Los Angeles replaced their high-pressure sodium streetlights with LEDs. © COPYRIGHT 2015 CITY OF LOS ANGELES. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

LEDs aren’t just for student science projects anymore.

Out on our city streets, LED streetlights are an emerging technology that use significantly less energy, offer improved light quality, and last longer. On an apples-to-apples, technology-to-technology comparison, LED streetlights easily beat out all the other streetlighting technologies.

No wonder, then, that cities nationwide are beginning to replace their streetlights with LEDs. However, many cities are missing out on the real opportunity with LED streetlights: smart controls and the potential for a networked city.

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McKinstry and sports: a winning team

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CenutryLink Field Aerial View

This is an aerial view of CenturyLink Field and Event Center, which is topped with an array of solar panels—as seen in the lower left. The view is from the south facing north towards downtown Seattle and was photographed on August 13, 2011. (ROD MAR/SEATTLE SEAHAWKS AND SOUNDERS FC)

As the leaves fall and the air grows colder, there’s one thing which draws an opinion from almost everyone:

Whether it’s football, basketball, hockey, or another fall sport, people love to play, watch, and talk about athletics. While we love sports at McKinstry, they’re also part of our job.

Much as teams have to practice and plan in order to play their best on game day, McKinstry has to work hard behind the scenes in order to make sure the stadiums and arenas hosting millions of fans are up to that task.

Here are the stories of three athletic facilities where McKinstry’s work has had a major impact on fans and players alike:

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