Food for Lane County, a food bank located in Eugene, Oregon, values sustainability. The nonprofit promotes self-sufficiency among its low-income clients and tries to limit food waste by recovering produce from area farms and leftover food from local restaurants for repackaging and distribution. As the organization began outgrowing its warehouse space, it had to turn away food donations it could not store. Food for Lane County turned to Inte°gra°re Architecture, Inc., a local firm that specializes in energy-efficient commercial and institutional design, to develop a sustainable building that could be operated and maintained on a nonprofit's budget. The collaboration resulted in an award-winning design that integrates simple techniques, including passive cooling, natural ventilation, and daylighting to maximize energy efficiency.

Building design. Inte°gra°re designed the Food for Lane County building so that it was open and bright. Food for Lane County operational requirements determined how the energy-efficient technologies were incorporated. The building includes 23,000 square feet for food warehousing and distribution operations and 9,500 square feet of office space. It also includes a 3,500-square-foot processing kitchen used by volunteers for repackaging and preparing food.

The east-west elongated site orientation was perfect to take advantage of daylighting, passive solar winter-heat gain, and minimizing the summer heat load, notes Galen Ohmart, principal of Inte°gra°re. The architect worked closely with a lighting consultant, the University of Oregon Energy Studies Lab, and the local electric utility to incorporate daylighting as the main energy-efficient feature of the 37,000-square-foot facility. Daylighting brings light into the interior of the building in a way that provides better illumination than artificial light, reducing the need for electric lights. A U.S. Department of Energy report notes that almost 50 percent of total energy consumption nationwide is from electrical light sources. Proper daylighting strategies are estimated to save 50 to 80 percent of lighting energy.

The clerestory windows along the roofline distribute light to both the office and warehouse space. To compensate for daytime, weather, and seasonal changes in the amount of light entering the building, sensors automatically adjust the artificial light levels to meet the needs of users. Overhangs, shades on the lower windows, and window glazing help reduce the amount of heat absorbed by the building from direct sunlight during the summer.

Keeping the warehouse cool in the summer and preventing food from freezing in the winter were important considerations in the building's design. Mechanical air conditioning and heating systems can be costly, especially for large spaces with varying heating and cooling requirements. To minimize heat transfer to the warehouse in the summer, the mezzanine, offices, and kitchen are located on the south side of the building, creating a buffer for the warehouse, which is located on the north side. The warehouse's concrete slab floors and uninsulated outside walls also help keep the space cool.

Eugene's temperate climate made passive cooling and ventilation feasible. The area experiences few 90-degree days in the summer and very little snow in the winter. The office and warehouse locations facilitate natural ventilation and passive cooling. An automated, night-flush system cools the warehouse. When the outside air temperature falls below the temperature inside the building, the interlocking system of vents and clerestory windows open, causing cool air to enter the lower vents and heat to exit the upper windows. Passive solar and a limited number of residential furnaces are used to heat the building during the winter.

This is not to say that adjustments were not needed once Food for Lane County moved into the building. Initially, the office side cooling was designed to function similarly to the warehouse. However, staff had to open the windows manually in the evening to facilitate office cooling and then close them in the morning, which was not effective. During the summer of 2000, the offices became uncomfortably hot in the afternoons. Food for Lane County considered installing air conditioning but decided that the cost of retrofitting the building was prohibitive. They wanted to stay true to its mission of sustainability. To avoid installing mechanical cooling systems, the nonprofit adjusted its summer office hours and worked with the design team to automate the office window glazing system to provide night-flush cooling.

Financing construction. Food for Lane County conducted a $2.7 million capital campaign in 1997 to purchase the land and develop the $2.2 million building. The Eugene water and electric board also provided financial incentives for the lighting and natural ventilation systems. The utility estimates that the energy-efficient technologies save 3,125 kilowatts of energy per month—the equivalent of 2.5 residential homes—creating a savings for the utility.

Completed in 2000, the new building allows Food for Lane County to meet the growing needs of the low-income community. Food for Lane County distributed more than 5 million pounds of food in 2000 to individuals and families facing food emergencies and 110 community agencies serving low-income individuals. The food bank also sponsors soup kitchens, a summer food program with funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, training for young families about nutrition, and a youth farm program in which low-income youth learn about agriculture, nutrition, and running a small business.

A great place to work. Energy efficiency is an important component of the Food for Lane County building, but Ohmart emphasizes the importance of "creating a space in which people want to work." He notes that although energy costs are increasing, the bottom-line savings to the agency are small in relation to overall operations costs. The occupants are more concerned with their comfort in the building than how much it costs to heat and cool the building. Ohmart believes that Inte°gra°re was able to strike the balance between energy efficiency and comfort as is shown by the 2001 Architecture and Energy Award the firm received from the American Institute of Architects, Portland Chapter, for "outstanding design with sustainable principles and energy efficient technology."

For more information, contact: Galen Ohmart, Principal, Inte°gra°re Architecture, Inc., 223 West 12th Avenue, Eugene, OR 97401, (541) 342-1914; or Caroline Frengle, Executive Director, Food For Lane County, 770 Bailey Hill Road, Eugene, OR 97402, (541) 343-2822.

Or see: American Institute of Architects, Portland Chapter web site: www.aiaportland.com/ae/2001/fflanecty.htm.

Or see: The Sustainable Building Technical Manual: Green Building Design, Construction, and Operations, U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), Public Technology, Inc. (PTI), the U.S. Green Building Council (USBGC), and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 1996, www.sustainable.doe.gov/articles/ptipub.shtml.