SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH — Utah Clean Energy recently unveiled its Climate Innovation Center, one of the most high-performance buildings in the nation and a hub for climate action.
Located in downtown Salt Lake City in a once dilapidated 50-year-old building, the new facility will offer a space dedicated to learning, exploration and collaboration centered on climate solutions and improving local air quality. It will serve as headquarters for Utah Clean Energy.
The center is built to achieve zero-energy standards, which means it’s so energy efficient that its onsite solar power, coupled with battery storage, will provide all of the building’s energy needs and the building operates without natural gas, eliminating the need for fossil fuels.
It’s powered with 100 per cent clean energy including rooftop and canopy solar and onsite battery storage; it’s produced with low carbon emissions because it was retrofitted from an existing building, uses recycled materials and is framed with timber instead of concrete or steel; and it’s ultra-energy- and water-efficient with air source heat pumps, air-tight building envelope, high-performance windows, water- and energy-efficient appliances.
The center is a recipient of a Rocky Mountain Power Blue Sky Grant, which supported the rooftop solar installation complete with a solar canopy and battery storage.
Throughout the renovation, Utah Clean Energy and its building partners have documented all of the steps to achieve zero energy and will utilize the building and a dedicated website as a teaching tool to make it easy for others to follow suit, the release adds.
“As we confront the urgent challenges posed by climate change, the need for bold, innovative solutions has never been greater,” said Sarah Wright, executive director of Utah Clean Energy, in a statement. “With the Climate Innovation Center, we demonstrate that solutions are already at hand; we have what we need to lay the groundwork for a healthy, sustainable, and resilient future for generations to come.”
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