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SHOWCASE: This Year's Model
The new Honda facility garners the "gold" for going green.

By Heidi Schwartz

Long before the hot new Honda Civic Hybrid hit the streets, American Honda had a green vision. For years, the automotive giant was committed to preserving the environment through the introduction of pollution reduction measures.

So when American Honda's Northwest Regional Facility in Gresham, OR opened its doors, expectations were high. Says Atsuyoshi Hyogo, American Honda's chief operating officer and senior executive vice president, "At our new Gresham facility, Honda took its environmental commitment one step further by using recycled, recyclable, and environmentally friendly products in the building's design, construction, and operation."

Mixed Use Put To Good Use

The facility, which sits on a 17.15-acre site near the Columbia River, serves several functions: first, it's a 18,825 square foot office to support regional sales, parts, and service; next, it's a 25,103 square foot training center with 27 service bays; finally, it's a 168,960 square foot parts warehouse. But most significantly, "This is the first mixed use industrial building in the country to be awarded the U.S. Green Building Council's (USGBC) LEED Gold Certification," comments John Woelfle, facility services administrator for American Honda.

The LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Green Building Rating System is a feature oriented rating system that provides a complete framework for assessing building performance and meeting sustainability goals. The five major environmental categories of review include: Sustainable Sites, Water Efficiency, Energy and Atmosphere, Materials and Resources, and Indoor Environmental Quality. The ascending levels of certification-Certified, Silver, Gold, and Platinum-are awarded based on total credits earned.

"Once it was established that the Gresham facility would be an environmentally friendly building, it was a natural step to pursue a USGBC rating, and it quickly became apparent that a gold certification might be possible," Woelfle notes. The auto giant received the Gold LEED award for incorporating sustainable practices in virtually every aspect of the building's design, construction, and operation.

No Small Feat

Once the decision was made to go green, Honda worked with the USGBC to receive a LEED Gold Certification. But even at the start of the project, the company relied on numerous contractors, consultants, and experts.

In an unusual move, the project management team included city planners who helped identify potential problems with city codes and regulations early in the process. Local experts included representatives from Portland Energy Conservation, Inc., Portland General Electric, the city of Gresham, and other firms.

At the core of the project was Portland, OR-based Group Mackenzie, providers of architectural, building design, structural, and civil engineering services for the Gresham facility. This firm worked with Honda departmental representatives from facilities, system engineering, human resources, operations, and maintenance to balance functionality, sustainable design, and life cycle costs of the building.

Woelfle recalls, "the process of LEED certification required teamwork and cooperation throughout the entire construction process." At one point, he adds, "it meant getting all of the trades to cooperate in the recycling of construction debris. Each raw material had its own container for that purpose.

"Honda was fortunate in having a general contractor [Opus Northwest] that embraced this concept from the beginning. They even took Honda's environmental symbol and put it on everyone's hard hat as a reminder of the special nature of the facility being built!"

The Search For Green

But while many experts contributed to the project, the Honda Facility Planning Department dictated the product selection and purchasing process. Says Woelfle, "Honda determined that as many of the finishes, furniture, and fixtures as humanly possible should be 'green.' They had to have a high recycled and recyclable content, be manufactured in an environmentally friendly manner, be local whenever possible (to reduce the amount of fossil fuels used in trucking the materials to the job site), and at the same time conform to budgetary and scheduling needs."

American Honda was able to tap into homegrown resources: more than 20% of all the materials used to construct the facility came from within a 500 mile radius of the site. However, when the project began, it wasn't particularly easy to find suitable materials. At the time, says Woelfle, "There was not a huge range of 'green' products and materials from which to select, and the color palette was somewhat limited. There was no history for certain products and no one to ask how they worked (or even if they worked)." While designing the facility to meet LEED requirements was a longer process than normal, Honda was still able to open the facility on time.

Reaping The Benefits

Jim Wheeler, city of Gresham development planner, balanced "the drive for the gold" against the city's development code. "What struck me most," observes Wheeler, "was the diversity of recycled material used by Honda in the building design."

For the interior, the Honda design team used wallpaper from recycled phone books and flooring from recycled car tires. Even the furniture used recycled products: pressed sunflower seeds for conference tables and recycled car bumpers for chairs.

Interior paints, adhesive, carpet, and composite wood products are volatile organic compound (VOC)-free. Because of these measures, Honda associates are enjoying cleaner air.

The Honda facility also scored LEED points for sustainable construction practices (recycled steel, high fly ash content concrete, almost zero construction waste) and landscaping (native plants, low maintenance grasses, existing trees on the site were moved and replanted, and the planting of Noble Fir trees on unused acreage, available to cut and sell when they mature for community fundraising).

Honda has already benefited from its sustainable efforts. Documented accomplishments include the following:

• Reduction of water usage. Rainwater runoff is collected from half of the warehouse roof area and diverted to a 90,000 gallon underground storage tank for flushing toilets and irrigating the drought-resistant landscaping. This has reduced water consumption by 50% over conventional means. The architects re-routed plumbing so that the annual mandatory flushing of the fire suppression system would replenish the tank during the dry season. The storm water detention pond collects runoff from the parking lots and provides a habitat for wildlife. The high banks ensure that most of the runoff evaporates rather than unduly taxing the region's storm water system.
• Cheaper heating and cooling. The orientation of the building on the site makes full use of the strong Columbia Gorge winds from the east. "The HVAC system was designed with Oregon's moderate climate in mind. The office uses a natural ventilation system that allows the chiller and boiler capacities to be reduced to the most energy efficient models available. Three roof-mounted Trane T-Series Climate Changer units are used for precise ventilation control and complete mixing of conditioned air," explains Woelfle. External vents and a raised access floor in the office draw air from the outside, filter it and adjust for temperature, then gently distribute it through 22 personal controls throughout the office area, allowing for maximum flexibility in temperature control. Woelfle adds, "time of day scheduling through the building controls ensure that systems are never operating when they should not be. The entire facility incorporates occupancy sensors that control the lights and the HVAC for all rooms and areas."

The interior air is drawn up and out through large, gravity ventilators on the roof. The raised floor also houses wiring and systems-easily accessed through floor tiles and recycled/recyclable carpet squares installed with quick release adhesive-for reconfiguring the office at any time.

Woelfle adds, "the parts distribution warehouse is neither heated nor cooled, relying instead on wall and roof insulation to maintain moderate temperatures throughout the year."

• Better light at a lower cost. The 120 skylights in the warehouse provide sufficient natural light so fixtures don't need to be turned on during daylight hours. In the office, interior light shelves refract and diffuse sunlight; louvers block glare; an intelligent fluorescent lighting system regulates lighting levels.

In order to demonstrate to Honda that the daylighting system would work, Group Mackenzie created a miniature model of the system to simulate year-round conditions in the Seattle Daylight Lab, recording the simulated lighting in real-time video. "Originally, the associates thought the lighting level in the office was too low, but now everyone loves the lighting in the building," says Woelfle.

Raising The Bar

Since opening the building a year ago, Woelfle estimates that he has given tours to over 1,200 people, from delegations of municipal planners to international business groups. "Most are amazed by the amount and level of sustainable elements incorporated into the structure, and by Honda's commitment to the environment," says Woelfle. Best of all, "the associates love being part of what really is a showcase facility," he adds. Jeff Reaves, president of Group Mackenzie says the project illustrated the feasibility of applying sustainable building practices to conventional structures. "More than anything, this project demonstrated that it doesn't have to be a high-profile, downtown building to be environmentally friendly. Industrial facilities can reap the same rewards," he adds. Anthony Piazza, American Honda human resource/administration assistant vice president says the Gresham facility will serve "as a benchmark for future Honda facilities. We chose to 'go green in Gresham' because...we wanted to demonstrate that a warehouse and commercial building could be environmentally friendly and energy efficient while supporting normal business activities," states Piazza. From every indication, American Honda has been a great green success story.