Innovation and Design Process

  • Green Building Education: The Student Union project will educate its students, faculty, and staff and the public about sustainable design and the impacts of buildings on the environment. In addition to case studies like this one, a comprehensive signage program was developed.
  • Water Using Equipment and Appliances: The team extended water efficiency measures to the process water used in the building. Refrigeration equipment does not use once-through cooling with potable water. Dishwashers, ice machines, prerinse spray valves, and a washing machine meet performance requirements for low water usage. Instead of being water cooled, the ice machines utilize air-cooled condensers that are located outdoors to avoid adding heat to the building. In lieu of garbage disposals and to reduce waste volume, a pulper grinds up food service waste and an extractor removes moisture to produce a semi-dry pulp. Excess water is recovered and reused by the pulper. This combination of strategies for reducing process water usage resulted in an innovation credit for the project.
  • LEED Accredited Professionals: The majority of principal participants of the project team have successfully completed one of the LEED Accredited Professional exams.

Awards and Honors

The Student Union Addition earned LEED Gold (48 points) in August 2011, making it the third building on Fort Lewis College’s campus to earn LEED certification.

The Real Food Challenge is a National Campaign dedicated to creating a healthy, just and sustainable food system. To achieve this end goal, the Real Food Challenge is working with university food service accounts to shift $1 billion in institutional food spending to foods and food products that support this vision -- namely, foods that are fair, humane, ecologically-sound and local. Learn more about the campaign and how these terms are defined here.