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Green business park takes root

WATER AGENCY TEAMS UP WITH AIRPORT BUSINESS CENTER, GETS SUPPORT OF JACKSON WINES

SANTA ROSA – An effort to make Sonoma County a national model for the next wave in green business – business parks that would collectively use less resources such as water and energy – received a boost recently when a large organization in the county’s largest business park got behind the endeavor.

The Sonoma County Water Agency, which supplies water and treats sewage for 600,000 residents in parts of Sonoma and Marin counties, wants to expand the use of its highly treated wastewater to reduce the energy businesses use for heating and cooling their buildings. It also wants to cut the amount of drinking water businesses use for irrigating landscaping and in certain plumbing for restrooms.

The water agency teamed up with Airport Business Center, a 450-acre business park that stretches from Charles M. Schulz-Sonoma County Airport to the south end of Windsor.

Larry Wasem, managing general partner of Airport Business Center, was skeptical of the proposal at first. However, the involvement of Jackson Family Wines, the makers of the Kendall-Jackson wine brand and a number of others, has made all the difference.

“I thought, ‘It is extraordinary if they can do it,’” he said. “But they got the ball rolling.”

The agency has 200 million gallons of tertiary-treated wastewater at its Airport-Larkfield-Wikiup plant. With a GeoExchange heat pump system, water could run through buried purple-colored pipes – signifying the water is recycled – circulate through connected buildings and add heat to them or remove it back to the pond or for irrigation of landscaping or crops. Such a system is said to result in 50 percent savings on energy for climate control.

Some buildings, such as those with plumbing running overhead rather than through the building slab, may be candidates for retrofitting with purple pipe for toilets and urinals.

The water agency and the other Sonoma County governments agreed to cut emissions of carbon dioxide and other gasses considered to be agents for climate change by 25 percent below 1990 levels in the next seven years.

The effort has extra urgency as the state implements the Global Warming Solutions Act of 2006, better known as Assembly Bill 32. Also, the state Attorney General’s office has been taking legal action against local governments that don’t incorporate such planning in their policy documents.

Yet countywide carbon dioxide and other emissions continue to increase, reaching 4.5 million tons last year, compared with 3.8 million in 1990, according to May figures from the Graton-based Climate Action Campaign.

Commercial buildings consume 39 percent of U.S. energy for heating, cooling, lighting and business equipment, according to the Alliance to Save Energy.

The three components of the water agency’s Airport Green Business effort are increasing water and energy efficiency through usage assessments, reducing usage through recycled water irrigation and a GeoExchange heat-pump loop, and upping the amount of energy produced by renewable sources such as sun, wind, and fuel cells to make up for what was lost.

For the first phase, it was crucial to convince businesses to allow confidential assessments of their usage.

That’s where Jackson Wine Estates – an international wine producer run by Jess Jackson and Barbara Banke out of two headquarters offices in Airport Business Center – came into play. The wine company also has a blending and bottling facility and two large barrel warehouses in the business park.

“It’s simpler than you think, and it doesn’t cost as much as you think,” Ms. Banke said.

The company found in assessing its energy and water usage that simple components, such as shutoff valves and heating, cooling and lighting systems linked to occupancy detectors, made a difference.

One of the goals the Jackson organization has for its new facilities is the equivalent of the U.S. Green Building Council’s highest level of certified sustainable construction – platinum – in its Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design rating system, according to Pete Downs, director of government relations.

The wine company also has been meeting with U.C. Davis to learn about the ultra-efficient winery the school is building at its main campus to find out what may work with new and existing facilities.

“We not sure that is attainable, but we’re taking a serious look,” Mr. Downs said.

The cost of burying the purple pipe and connecting buildings is estimated to be $50 million to $70 million over the next few years. Similar projects for wine-oriented business parks along Eighth Street East south of Sonoma and for winery operations near Geyserville are in the planning stages with an estimated cost of more than $200 million.

The county board of supervisors set aside $1 million for a feasibility study on the GeoExchange heat-pump loop project, and the study is set to be completed this year.

The project could be funded through federal and state grants, public-private partnership, assessments and issuance of bonds. Boosters of this project urged companies to support Assembly Bill 811, which would assist with assessment district financing.

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