Page 24 - Grapevine Jan-Feb 2020

In The Winery

an American Institute of Architects’ Emerging Firm cial buildings, has Design Engineers on its 2019 list
Award in 2018. of only 580 “getting to zero” certified, verified and
emerging projects in the entire United States and
Learning About Potential Solutions Canada. The firm designed another net zero build-
ing on that list: Indian Creek Nature Center, also
Gentry told The Grapevine Magazine that clients in Iowa, and winner of the 2019 High Performing
benefit most by consulting with sustainability Buildings Technology award.
experts when they’re first curious about this direc-
tion, which helps determine site needs, budget and “Net zero describes a number of different things,”
program. “Having solutions thoughtfully considered Schumm said. “A net zero energy building means it
from the beginning leads to designs that function produces as much energy as it uses—that would be
and look better in the end. These solutions might total amount of all types of energy. So, for exam-
include natural daylight and ventilation, solar panel ple, if you have natural gas consumption, you’d
arrays, green roofs, locally-produced materials, need to produce enough energy to offset that. Net
geothermal heat pumps and striving to use materi- zero electricity is separate from net zero energy,
als that will be low maintenance and stand the test but most rated buildings with this intent are elec-
of time,” Gentry said. tric, so it’s usually the same thing,” he said.

As one example, goCstudio designed several Net Zero Water Leads
site-specific sustainable strategies for COR Cellars Conservation Efforts
in Lyle, Washington. “The site has strong winds that
funnel up through the Columbia River Gorge. It was Schumm also noted that properties can strive for
important to deal with this element, so we creat- net zero water management. A primary concern for
ed a courtyard building that provided a protected vineyards, this means all water used onsite comes
entry and event space,” Gentry said. “We also from a well, and all rainwater that falls on a proper-
bermed the building into the natural sloping hillside ty stays there—there’s not a storm runoff removal
using the earth’s mass to help insulate the struc- system. “With our office building, even though
ture. Finally, we created a flat, low-profile roof that much of the area is covered with pervious material
allowed the owners to easily install a solar panel so water can infiltrate, we also designed an infiltra-
array or a built-up green roof.” tion basin—sometimes called a bioswale,” he said.
“Instead of holding and then moving water away—
During information gathering, all the terms and which often happens around many non-pervious
concepts for sustainability options might be a sur- parking lots—this basin is designed to ease water
prise. For instance, LEED stands for Leadership into the ground.”
in Energy and Environmental Design. LEED is the
blueprint to “create healthy, highly efficient and Allen Rossignol is president and CEO of Edge
cost-saving green buildings,” according to the U.S. Architecture in Rochester, New York. As a certi-
Green Building Council, which oversees the various fied LEED professional, Rossignol guides his firm to
levels of LEED certification and its rating system. apply green and sustainable practices to winery and
One large step beyond that is the International craft beverage projects throughout the Northeast,
Living Future Institute, or ILFI. This nonprofit imple- such as Red Tail Ridge Winery in Penn Yan—New
ments even higher green building standards, which York’s first LEED Gold Certified winery—and the
include living building certification, petal certifica- FLCC Viticulture and Wine Center. Rossignol pro-
tion and net zero energy building certification. vided some additional specifics for water conserva-
tion.
There are varying degrees of net zero status.
Dwight Schumm is a senior mechanical engineer “The amount of water used for cleaning is a
and managing principal at Design Engineers in large concern for all wineries. We often suggest a
Cedar Rapids, Iowa. His firm designs building sys- metered water system so owners can be aware of
tems—heating, cooling, plumbing, power and light- their consumption and make efforts to reduce the
ing—and its net zero headquarters is LEED and ILFI amount used,” he said. “Further, as wastewater
rated. The New Buildings Institute, a nonprofit that from the winemaking process is large in quantity
promotes better energy performance in commer- and has high levels of BOD (biochemical oxygen

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