Great River Energy Corporate Headquarters, Minnesota

Great River Energy’s new corporate headquarters in Maple Grove, Minneapolis, is a four-storey, 166,000 sq ft building, designed by architects Perkins + Will, located on a 12.5 acre site in Maple Grove’s Arbor Lakes development.Lets see what makes Great River Energy’s new corporate headquarters one of AIA’s Top Green Projects for 2009, as seen in ArchitectureNews:

The building features a number of the latest advancements in energy efficiency technology that help set the new standard for building design and construction. Features include a low-energy HVAC system design featuring under-floor displacement ventilation and a geothermal heating and cooling system that utilizes the adjacent Arbor Lake.

The building also has an on-site 200kW wind turbine that transforms wind energy into electricity and stands at 160 ft tall. Solar panels will provide nearly 15 percent of the building’s total electric use and the building will use 40 percent less energy for lighting than similarly sized buildings using standard technology.

Great River Energy’s new corporate campus adheres to stringent environmental standards and will serve as a model of sustainable practices. It will be used as a tool to educate member cooperatives, contractors, business leaders and other members of the building industry about ways they can conserve energy and practice sustainability.