King County’s green building commitments and projects

King County projects and commitments

To achieve its ambitious greenhouse gas reduction targets, King County must significantly scale-up efforts to reduce water, energy, and material use in our construction and operations.

As part of this effort, in 2020 Strategic Climate Action Plan, King County committed to registering at least 20 Zero Energy (ZE) or Living Building Challenge (LBC) projects by 2020. This commitment supports the County’s goal of making 100% of new capital projects carbon neutral by 2030.

King County developed a framework to help reach this goal. The framework raised awareness of emissions reduction opportunities in the built environment. It has also promoted the Living Building Challenge and established replicable tools and practices for initiating ZE/ LBC projects in public work, infrastructure, and industrial projects.

Project Success: North Utility Maintenance Facility

In 2017, King County Parks completed an energy efficiency retrofit of the North Utility Maintenance Facility at Marymoor Park in Redmond. This project  reduced the park’s operational environmental footprint by installing a 49-kilowatt photovoltaic system.

King County's Energy Manager identified an opportunity to improve the efficiency of the shop complex's 2 buildings, which were built in the early 2000s. Although these buildings were not designed for zero energy, they had favorable solar orientation. To build project momentum, it was essential to work with on-site maintenance staff, who were relatively unfamiliar with green building concepts. The energy improvements had to be carefully evaluated to ensure that the energy savings would be sufficient to offset the solar power generated from the available roof space.

Ultimately, the project integrated a cost-effective package of solar panels and cutting-edge energy efficient lighting and mechanical equipment to achieve zero energy results. The building's lights were upgraded to high efficiency LEDs. Additionally, a premium- efficiency heat pump system replaced the heaters and air conditioners in the buildings.

The Living Building Challenge

The Living Building Challenge is a philosophy, certification, and advocacy tool for projects to move beyond merely being less bad and to become truly regenerative.