UH Manoa’s Kuykendall Hall planned to be Hawaii’s first zero net building

MANOA—As President Barack Obama and former President Bill Clinton announced their commitment to fulfilling new energy reduction goals, the University of Hawaii at Manoa laid out plans in reaching its own energy reduction goals. UH Manoa’s participation in the White House’s Better Buildings Challenge is the institution’s latest step toward becoming energy, water, and waste independent by 2050. The Washington-led effort will see $36 million go toward creating on the first zero net energy (non-fossil fuel dependent) retrofitted building in Hawaii.

Speaking in Washington, D.C., today, Obama directed all Federal agencies to make at least $2 billion worth of energy efficiency upgrades over the next two months. Additionally, 60 private companies, hospitals, cities, states, colleges, and universities, among others, have collectively committed another $2 billion in energy efficiency retrofits to 1.6 billion square feet of property.

UH Manoa’s half-century-old Kuykendall Hall is the focus of the President’s Better Buildings Challenge program. Following the multimillion dollar renovations, the building will serve as an example for the university and the State to move toward longer-term energy independence goals and demonstrate innovation in sustainable tropical architecture, UH officials said. Funds for construction are currently being requested from the State Legislature.

Design for the project is supported through the U.S. Department of Energy National Commercial Building Partnership Program, as one of three nationally, to create a high-performance net zero energy design. Ben Woo Architects of Honolulu led the design effort. The design team includes nationally recognized experts in natural ventilation and acoustics provided by the Lawrence Berkeley National Lab and supported by technical input from the Center for the Built Environment at UC Berkeley.

The Better Buildings Challenge initiative announced by President Obama and former President Clinton aims to upgrade building energy performance by a minimum of 20 percent by 2020 and represents nearly $4 billion of investments in combined federal and private sector energy upgrades to buildings over the next two years. The White House says these investments are designed to save billions in energy costs and, according to independent estimates, create tens of thousands of jobs in the hard-hit construction sector throughout Hawaii and the rest of the nation.

UH Manoa has adopted energy reductions goals of:

· Overall campus energy reduction of 30 percent by 2012.
· Overall campus energy reduction of 50 percent by 2015.
· 25 percent renewable energy by 2020.
· Energy, water, and waste independence by 2050.

For more information on UH Manoa’s sustainability initiatives, click here