VAR Celebrates Earth Day With New Green Headquarters

Larry O'Connor has long been interested in the environment, but this year's Earth Day is a little more special for the CEO of solution provider Other World Computing. It's his first Earth Day in the new environmentally-friendly headquarters of the Woodstock, Ill., solution provider.

Three weeks ago, Other World Computing moved from a 10,000-square-foot headquarters and two annex locations into the 37,000-square-foot environmentally-friendly facility designed according to Platinum Level specifications of the LEED [Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design] program.

The new facility features green design elements such as water savings, green materials selection, recycling and conservation, indoor environmental quality and energy efficiency. "Quite frankly, we felt we had to do what was right. We're in a position to do it. We can take advantage of the technology and promote conservation," O'Connor said. "It's a much larger investment on the front side, but there is ROI. When you look at the balance, it works out and you conserve resources in the process."

LEED is a nationally accepted voluntary building certification program that defines high-performance green buildings, which are more environmentally responsible, healthier, and conservation-minded structures, according to the solution provider. The new facility is on track to be certified at the Gold LEED Level and the company hopes to achieve Platinum LEED Level. There are only 130 commercial buildings in the United States with LEED Gold or Platinum certifications, according to the solution provider.

Specific features that Other World Computing installed in the building include:

- A geothermal ground-coupled heat pump system expected to havea 300 percent efficiency rating over conventional natural gas based systems.

- A fiber-optic rooftop light-harvesting technology to augment office lighting with natural light.

- High insulation value glass windows and exterior sunshade technology to reduce energy needed for cooling.

- High insulation value materials throughout the building to reduce energy use.

- "Smart" building technology, including sensors to detect and adjust for unused rooms.

- Limestone substrate and permeable paving for environmentally friendly run-off water handling.

- The use of bio swales and native plants and prairie grasses to maximize water conservation.

- Waterless urinals and dual-mode toilets. The urinals are expected to save an average of 40,000 gallons per year per urinal.

- A water filtration system that eliminates the need for delivered water.

The new facility was constructed for about 30 percent more than a traditional new building would cost, but the reduction in energy and water resources will eventually pay for the difference, O'Connor said.

Other World Computing's energy costs at the new facility should be about the same as its previous headquarters, one-fourth the size of this building. And that doesn't take into account rent and energy costs for its former two satellite locations.

Another challenge in the project was financing, O'Connor said. "You're spending more, but the appraisal is still based on per-square-footage of comparable space [for a non-green building]. The green building doesn't currently have a higher square-footage appraisal."

He'd like to see incentives or regulations in place that would alleviate funding challenges to help promote the construction of more green buildings. "Everyone has a budget. If you're willing to extend that budget, if you're capable of doing that, you can make a big difference. If you can't finance it, it becomes more difficult," he said.

In addition to energy savings, O'Connor believes his new headquarters can be leveraged as a recruitment tool for both new employees and customers.

"We've had a couple customers comment about it. That's not why we did this, but there's certainly a benefit from basic customers from a respect point of view. They take notice of the green leadership we've undertaken," he said.

Other World Computing had been at its previous headquarters for seven years and the company has dramatically increased in size over that period, O'Connor said.

"We've well outgrown out it, even a year ago, as this project took longer than expected. We needed this [new building] to support our growth," he said. "For the first time in five years, we're all under the same roof."

O'Connor said he's learned a lot not only about conservation technology, but also about the impact that wasted resources has on the environment.

"We have extensive recycling programs. As we get into this, we are look for a zero waste program. We're looking at programs to potentially compost some waste. There's land behind us that may allow us to do that," he said.

Other World Computing is also looking at selling more environmental-friendly solutions to customers, O'Connor said. One example, is a Blue Line Innovations PowerCost Monitor attaches to an existing power meter and tells users how much money they're spending on electricity in real time. The idea is to get users to turn off unnecessary lights to reduce their energy consumption, he said.

"There's really zero reason why any other company couldn't do this. The bottom line is the technologies aren't relatively new," O'Connor said. He notes that his parents had a geothermal heat pump system built into their house in 1979. "The technology is not new but it's not utilized as much as it could have been. You have to pay for some up front, but you're still putting money out the door every month [in energy]."

O'Connor admits that the project has taken up most of his time for the better part of two years, but now three weeks into the building, it was worth the effort, he said.

"This is the right thing to do. We're very pleased to do it. It's a long-term vs. short-term strategy. You look at overall costs. What do you do for conservation vs. how cheap can you put a building up? That's the mentality has to be pursued. It's way too easy unfortunately to take a look at bare costs without the longer-term benefits."

More information on the building is available at the company's Website.