Using “green” materials in a building helps to improve many aspects of the structure such as indoor air quality while using materials salvaged from deconstructed buildings helps keep building material costs down while at the same time integrating pieces with historical integrity that can not be found elsewhere.
Rocky Mountain Institute is an organization in the United States dedicated to research, publication, consulting, and lecturing in the general field of sustainability and with a special focus on energy production, use, and conservation. The Institute is based in Snomass, Colorado. Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI), a nonprofit organization, was established in 1982 by resource analysts L. Hunter Lovins and Amory B. Lovins. What began as a small group of colleagues focusing on energy policy has since grown into a broad-based institution with approximately forty full-time staff, an annual budget of nearly $6 million (over half of it earned through programmatic enterprise), and a global reach. RMI brings a unique perspective to resource issues, guided by the following core principles:
Tom Bender is considered to be one of the American founders of the "green architecture" and "sustainability" movements. His research, writing, and architectural design since the 1970s has embraced the relatively new field of solar architectural design. In his sustainable building, the Bank of Astoria, he used only locally found materials, cutting down on energy that would have been used in transporting the materials as well as facilitated previously unmarketable timber. He designed the building to provide one hundred percent daylight all throughout the building, excluding the vault, to connect the inhabitants with the natural outside world. In addition to natural lighting, the building does not have air conditioning; the building is cooled through operable windows and a night-flushing ventilation system.
Peter Calthorpe is considered one of the top twenty five innovators on the cutting edge of urban and suburban growth. Starting practice in 1972, he has had a long and honored career in the planning and architecture fields, combining his experience in both disciplines to develop an environmental approach to community development and urban design. Calthorpe became a project designer at the California Office of the State Architect to work on the design of the Bateson Building, a model energy efficient state office building. The Bateson Building in Sacramento was the first in a series of energy-efficient State office buildings designed during Sim Van der Ryn's tenure as California State Architect. Under Van der Ryn's direction, the CA Energy Efficient State Building Program pioneered many strategies including climate responsive design and thermal performance computer modeling which became the standard for energy efficient building design.
The 250,000 square foot Bateson building includes innovative heating, cooling, and daylighting features and served to initiate the construction of seven new office buildings demonstrating the potential of renewable energy alternatives and conservation. Using passive solar storage, a night air cooling system, adjustable shading, and efficient lighting, 70% of the building's heating and cooling needs are met without fossil fuel.