Alpen Technology – Key Component of Boulder Commons Zero Energy Performance

The project sets a new paradigm for zero energy lease structures, alternative mobility and high-performance speculative buildings.

Alpen fiberglass windows provide a critical element of these two 100,000 square foot NZE/ZE buildings.

Zero energy buildings have recently experienced a boom in popularity. But despite industry progress, the number of leased ZE buildings lags significantly behind owner-occupied projects. Over half of commercial buildings nationally are leased, which presents a significant impediment to meeting carbon reduction targets. Boulder Commons boasts Colorado’s first NZE lease, and the first NZE lease in the country for a project of this size, setting a new precedent for other landlords and tenants to follow.

Boulder Commons is demonstrating the unique values driven by net-zero carbon buildings and districts to drive competitive advantage, while providing a mechanism to economically support the global transition to clean, renewable energy.

Goals of sustainability and construction technologies

Alpen worked closely with the developers, designers and energy consults to assure the comfort, cost, energy consumption and net-zero certification goals were achieved. In order to make the building highly sustainable, a number of strategies were designed into the project from the outset.

In addition to the solar array tuned to the building’s aspect on the site, the project sought to reduce its demand loads on an annualized basis. The two buildings provide optimum widths for daylighting.

Designing the building’s east side to “erode away” provided opportunities for internal residential and commercial plazas, reducing the need for artificial light. A responsive HVAC strategy allows the building to respond to the actual unit needs rather than conditioning on a full-building scale, and a variety of unit and tenant-based ides were considered to reduce plug loads.