SPARK

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

Mission: Possible—The energy-saving potential of CHP systems

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At McKinstry, our mission is to make every building we touch more efficient. “Mission: Possible” is a new monthly series featuring projects around the country that demonstrate our mission in action. 

Since 2013, our Seattle energy team has worked with MultiCare (an integrated healthcare network made up of eight hospitals and numerous clinics across Washington) to deliver more than 30 projects and make every MultiCare building we touch more efficient. 

At Good Samaritan Hospital (located in Puyallup, Wash.), MultiCare and McKinstry recently implemented a combined heat and power (CHP) system. This innovative system allows the hospital to generate its own power on-site, which is drastically more reliable, cost efficient and energy efficient. 

At Good Samaritan, the new two-megawatt CHP system came online in late 2019 and was fully implemented in early 2020. The system will cut combined energy and maintenance costs by 25 percent, while reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 17 percent, as compared to just connecting to the standard power grid. 

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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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Solving the equation: Energy efficiency + healthy classrooms = happy students

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teacher classroom

Photo by Bart Everson via Flickr

We ask our schools to do a lot on a tight budget: Invest in new technology, adapt to national standards, keep teachers and staff happy, maintain discipline, collaborate with other schools, mentor teachers—the list goes on. Little wonder, then, that maintaining the school building itself falls near the bottom of the priority list.

However, the learning environment is fundamentally important to student success. When it underperforms, so do our students. What’s more, overspending on a poorly ventilated and/or uncomfortable learning environment is the worst of both worlds.

If better buildings make for better students, how should cash-strapped schools prioritize and actualize more energy-efficient school facilities?

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Tunable LED lighting is illuminating the future

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From the moment you wake up to the moment your head hits the pillow, there’s one constant in your life—light. Whether it’s natural or artificial, in your home or your office, fluorescent or LED, light is always surrounding you.

For being so omnipresent in our lives, it’s remarkable how lighting isn’t always focused on what’s optimal for people. Surprisingly often, the various lights in our lives are too harsh, too dim, building-centric, or one-size-fits-all.

One company—PLANLED, based in Federal Way, Wash.—is betting that people fed up with inadequate illumination will embrace the new concept of human-centric lighting (HCL). PLANLED distributes, markets, and sells a variety of different HCL solutions for indoor, outdoor/sports, and industrial settings.

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