Rendering courtesy of Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Architects
The new “12W” building at Southwest 12th Avenue and Washington Street is being developed by Gerding Edlen. It is scheduled for completion in May 2009.
Downtown Portland project could be among the first urban buildings in the U.S. to rely on wind energy
Portland Business Journal - by Wendy Culverwell Business Journal staff writer
A building now under construction at Southwest 12th and Washington could become one of the first urban buildings in the nation to integrate wind energy in its design. A series of wind turbines will sit on the roof and generate a small portion of power -- about 1 percent -- the 22-story tower will use.
The building, dubbed "12W," is being built by Gerding Edlen Development Co. and will contain a mix of luxury apartments and several floors of office space. Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Architects LLP is designing the building and will move its corporate headquarters there in two years. ZGF's role as both designer and chief occupant give it a double incentive to design something memorable.
Construction of the world's first wind-integrated high-rise building started earlier this year at the twin tower Bahrain World Trade Center on the Arabian Coast. The Bahrain project consists of two 50-story sail-shaped towers with three graceful wind turbines suspended from bridges between them, like gems channel-set between two bands.
Until now, rooftop wind turbines have appeared more frequently in architectural renderings than in real life, said John Breshears, an associate partner and architect with ZGF. Breshears is working on the design for 12W and has tasked himself with determining if wind energy will work.
Breshears estimates that half of all buildings in design today have wind turbines drawn on them. Few, if any, will be built. The early drawings for 12W were equally fanciful.
"We drew them up there because they look cool," he said.
Portland-based Gerding Edlen is the city's most prominent green builder, incorporating sustainable elements into all its designs. Together with its partner, the Goodman family, the firm was intrigued by the wind-power concept and agreed to underwrite the cost to study the issue.
"We wanted to do it, but do it in a way that works," said Patrick Wilde, a Gerding Edlen project manager.
ZGF enlisted Sander Mertens, a Dutch consultant considered one of the world's leading experts in harvesting wind energy in a built environment. With Mertens on board, the team collected wind data for Portland. The work led the team to Oregon State University for testing last month.
There, they used the school's equipment to simulate Portland's typical wind patterns. Summer winds flow across the city from the northwest and reverse themselves in the winter. At an elevation of 79 feet -- the height of 12W -- wind hits the leading edge of the building and sheers upward, leaving a wedge of weakened wind swirling near the roof.
Position a turbine below the sheer plane and the chaotic wind won't push the turbine blades. But elevate the blades above the plane and they twist happily in a windstream that averages 10 miles per hour.
A wind station at the nearby M Financial tower in the Brewery Blocks provided data that confirms the findings for the 12W location, Breshears said.
The team selected the Skystream 3.7, built by Flagstaff, Ariz.-based Southwest Windpower Inc., for the wind tunnels. The turbines cost about $10,000 each to install. They are widely used in rural settings, but not urban ones and never on top of tall buildings.
In ZGF's revised drawings, each turbine sits on a 40-foot mast anchored to 12W's roof in a bed of steel and concrete and wired into the building's electrical system at the power panel.
The Skystream model consists of three "S" shaped blades with a diameter of 12 feet and capacity to generate 1.8 kilowatts of power. Breshears and Wilde said the "S" shape helps address one of the chief objections to urban wind turbines: noise.
Using a tried-and-true product like Skystream could help Gerding Edlen and its development partners sell the idea to the Energy Trust of Oregon, which underwrites sustainable energy projects.
Alan Cowan, an Energy Trust project manager, said the key to Energy Trust support is using proven technology. At this juncture, 12W appears to be a winner.
"It meets our criteria for wind energy," he said.
If installed, the four turbines will provide 12W with about 1 percent of its electrical requirements. Breshears and Wilde say the figure is deceptively small given how difficult it is to generate power on-site and the amount of energy the building will eventually consume.
"Is 1 percent window dressing? No," Wilde said.
wculverwell@bizjournals.com | 503-219-3415
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