Municipal Green

November/December 2008

Greening Waco’s ‘Main Street’

Central Texas town builds country’s first green chamber of commerce, complete with a living roof

By Tom Nicholson

Setting a new precedent for rural towns and small cities, Waco’s new solar-panel-equipped, LEED-certified chamber of commerce building has spurred a tide of green development across the city. (Courtesy Of Greater Waco Chamber Of Commerce)

Led initially by progressive owners and architects on high-profile projects in urban areas, the green revolution has been slower in coming to the small cities and towns of Main Street, America.

But on a project this year to build a new chamber of commerce building in Waco, Texas, officials took a pioneering plunge into green as part of a downtown redevelopment program, completing a LEED Gold-certified headquarters building in June that has set a new local standard and spurred several new green projects across the city.

"We want Waco to be front and center in this tide of change," says James G. Vaughan Jr., president of the Greater Waco Chamber of Commerce, whose vision led the $4.3-million project. "We want to set a high bar and be an example for the community, to show them that building green is not a costly bugaboo, but that it has practical benefits and is good for the environment."

Touted as the first green chamber of commerce building in the country, the 13,916-sq-ft, brick-and-stone two-floor structure features a 9.6-kW photovoltaic solar array on the roof, contributed through a grant by Austin-based Green Mountain Energy. The solar package is projected to offset electricity usage by 6.5%.

A 1,750-sq-ft "living" roof, the city’s first green roof, demonstrates how to reduce urban heat islands, a particularly acute problem in the sun-drenched Southwest. Rainwater collected in a cistern is pumped by a solar-powered pump to irrigate the roof flora.

The remaining 5,400 sq ft of rooftop is covered in Energy Star-rated white surfacing to reflect heat and lower energy consumption, keeping the building cool in the Texas heat, says Keith Bailey, president of Waco-based rbdr Architects.

Introducing green in Waco faced some "antiquated resistance, but through this project, Waco has taken gigantic leaps forward," Bailey says.

The project, which was completed in about 15 months by Waco-based general contractor Barsh Co., set an example for about a half-dozen new green projects in the city.

"We are showing them that the green approach doesn’t mean building using hay bales," Vaughan says. "We’ve demonstrated that it is a lot easier to build green than people think."

The interior of the chamber building was constructed without using toxic materials. It integrates an abundant use of daylight to lower energy costs and contribute to a healthier working environment, while the landscaping was designed with water savings in mind. (Courtesy Of Greater Waco Chamber Of Commerce)