Hive 50 Honors
For tapping bio- and chemical science and hydraulic engineering to convert scavenged municipal waste into room air comfort, exchanging sewer flow for BTUs to power net-zero-energy buildings.
What You Need To Know
The Washington, DC-based American Geophysical Union—a global community of 60,000 earth and space scientists celebrating its centennial years--teamed up with Huntersville, NC-based Huber Technology to study municipal waste recovery-to-energy-production opportunities in real-world building installations in Germany and Switzerland, and apply it to a major renovation of its 62,000-square-foot headquarters building. The team developed a way to safely tap into the sewer flow and convert it to cooling, geothermally. As a bonus, this strategy also eliminates the need for rooftop cooling towers, reducing building water usage. AGU was able to introduce a new way to leverage net zero energy strategies by being first to install this system in the U.S.
Who’s Involved
AGU, MGAC, DC Water, Interface Engineering, Skanska and U.S. distributor Havtech, and HUBER Technologies.
Time Stamp
AGU began its $41.7 million makeover project in 2017, and completed construction in mid-2019.
