A Model Building Designed to Meet Net Zero Energy and LEED Platinum Certification

n October 22, 2015, Delta Electronics (Delta), the largest power supply and thermal management company in the world, opened its new American headquarters in Fremont, California. Mr. Bruce Cheng, Delta's founder and current Chairman, along with Delta's senior management and California's local political contingent were on site to celebrate the opening. There were a ribbon cutting, speeches and award ceremonies with Mr. Bill Harrison, Mayor of Fremont, presenting the "Key to the City of Fremont" to Mr. Bruce Cheng.
Architecturally and aesthetically, Delta's American headquarters is a beautiful building, but designing and constructing this building was a challenging project that required complex engineering design, an elite aesthetic concept and significant input from the Economic Development Team of Fremont City Hall. This is a unique building designed to meet Net Zero Energy and LEED Platinum certification – in brief a model building.

At the time of this writing, there is no other power supply company that has achieved this duality in designing buildings that can meet both Net Zero Energy and LEED Platinum certification. Beyond the complexity of such a building project, it is expensive and needs significant commitment from the top management. It is no secret that Mr. Bruce Cheng has dedicated his career to the environmental causes and sustainability issues, and since 2005 all of Delta's new buildings have been designed to meet the latest environmental regulations or guidelines.

Net Zero Energy building means there is no waste - the energy consumed by the building is equal to the energy generated. LEED stands for Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design and provides the standards for the Green Building Design designated by the US Green Building Council or USGBC. According to the USBGC website: LEED is a green building certification program that recognizes best-in-class building strategies and practices. To receive LEED certification, building projects must satisfy prerequisites and earn points to achieve different levels of certification. Prerequisites and credits differ for each rating system and teams choose the best fit for their project.

Getting LEED certifications is no easy task and they range from the basic (40-49 points) to the highest 80+ points designated as Platinum. Delta's facility is designed for the highest - LEED Platinum certification.

Though all the details about Delta's new headquarters are extensive, a summary can be tabulated. The building uses the following energy saving systems:

• 616kW rooftop solar system using Delta's own solar inverters with energy conversion efficiency of up to 98.5 percent to meet net zero energy criteria. It is expected to generate over 1,000MWh electricity per year.
• Geothermal heating and cooling system that utilize a ground source heat pump connected to a loop field of pipes located up to 30 feet underground. There are more than 92 miles of pipe circulating 12,000 gallons of water.
• An elaborate 140,000 gallon rainwater harvesting system for irrigation. This is an important water-saving system in drought-stricken California.
• Highly efficient LED lighting that uses less energy.
• Recycled materials for beams, trusses and some furniture.

In addition to the novel and innovative power infrastructure and systems design, many systems use Delta's own products and solutions. Being one of the largest power-related companies in the world with a vast array of products and solutions, Delta was able to offer and showcase its own products and solutions in the development of the building to meet Net Zero Energy and LEED Platinum Certification. These include solar PV inverters, energy-saving variable frequency drives, Infrasuit Datacenter infrastructure solutions, elevator power generation solutions, electric charging solutions, wireless outdoor LED lighting systems and Delta Energy Online: real-time energy management and monitoring software.

Mr. Bruce Cheng stated, that "...in the past 10 years, we have commissioned the construction and renovation of 21 green buildings and will share our experiences with international audience in December, at this year's Conference of Parties, more commonly referenced to as the COP21. This aligns with the company's mission to provide innovative, clean, and energy energy- solutions for better tomorrow".

Delta's new American headquarters is a testament to its commitment to the green energy future.

Provided by Mohan Mankikar, President, Micro-Tech Consultants

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