Apparel Headquarters Goes Net-Zero With Solar Carports

In 2011, clothier VF Corp. started construction on an eco-friendly headquarters for its outdoorsy JanSport, The North Face and lucy brands. Plans for the Alameda, Calif., office included a photovoltaic awning system to provide 8% of the site’s energy needs. “This campus will epitomize the brands’ outdoor ethos,” said Steve Rendle, VF’s vice president.

But after taking a look at the numbers, the VF’s sustainability group decided 8% just wasn’t good enough. After all, one of the brands, The North Face, recently began issuing public sustainability reports. The group contacted San Francisco solar design firm Sunlight Electric and said they’d like to go all the way. They wanted a net-zero electricity building, and they had four roofs and a parking lot to make it happen.

They had some reservations about solar carports, though, explains Rob Erlichman, Sunlight Electric’s founder and president. They couldn’t lose parking spaces and, as a fashion headquarters, they didn’t want the system to be unattractive. “We started with a more conventional cold-rolled, box-steel, post-and-beam structure,” Erlichman says. “They asked us if there was anything that looked less industrial.”

Sunlight Electric turned to Schletter, a manufacturer of solar mounting systems and other metal products. The company makes the majority of its various carport systems from aluminum, as opposed to more-popular steel, says Justin Smith, a regional manager with the company. He says the lighter-weight metal makes installation easier.

“Steel allows larger spans, so you could do canopy structures with more than two rows of parking, but then you have to deal with the additional weight,” Smith says, adding that clients have told him aluminum is more aesthetic, too. It allows a carport architecture unlike others on the market, he says.

The 160,000-sq.-ft. VF building is located on land that was once the Naval Air Station Alameda, which closed in 1997. The area was a wetland until it was filled to make the airport in 1927. These were important historical considerations for the design engineers. Typically, carports are built on pier footings, and this particular soil couldn’t support such a system.

To build a base, Sunlight Electric had a choice: Tear up the brand new parking lot to pour 13-feet-wide by 3-feet-deep concrete slabs or use helical screws, which drill into the ground 30 feet and are then surrounded by concrete. Sunlight took the latter option, and then poured concrete pedestals to serve as a mount for the carport. The pedestals also protect against wreckless drivers.

Other considerations included the traffic patterns at VF and municipality guidelines for emergency vehicle access. The structures were shifted so delivery trucks could make turns and avoid hitting the structures. “It’s important to figure that out on the front end, rather than having damaged structures later,” Smith says. In the end, VF achieved net-zero status and forfeited zero parking spaces. The solar carports carry 70% of the building’s energy generation burden, proving to be the crux of the system. Although these carports are in addition to a 256-kW rooftop array — and six vertical axis wind turbines that provide a sliver of energy — Smith says carports are often a simpler alternative to roof structures, which require structural analysis.

“Sometimes we’ll deal with customers, and their rooftop will be very complex,” he says. “You’ll start to see the dollar signs adding up in just the preliminary design. They may have a perfect parking lot, and we’ll go through the conversation, ‘Why not put your panels out there?’” There are other benefits for a system owner, too. A carport offers shelter from the elements for employees and their vehicles. It is an obvious signal of environmental awareness. And — a fact that won’t be ignored by cost-conscious consumers – Schletter’s aluminum carports retain value. Owners can expect to cash-in at a recycling plant one day.

Courtesy: http://www.solarpowerworldonline.com/2013/06/apparel-headquarters-goes-net-zero-with-solar-carports/
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