The Microsoft Corporate Campus has been in Redmond, Washington, for the last 33 years. In 2017, the Microsoft Development Team was in the planning stages for a major investment in modernizing the campus with new buildings and amenities as an investment in their 47,000 employees and the community.

As the building energy consultant, Neil Bulger, in his former company, worked to support the master planning activities to set a direction for the energy targets and HVAC systems within the new  6.7 million sf campus development. The analysis focused on identifying a pathway for low energy for buildings, targeting an EUI of 40 kBtu/sf, and then evaluating opportunities for building-by-building systems or a shared central plant.

The master planning team worked with key stakeholders at the company to develop a process for evaluating alternatives for campus heating and cooling utilities. Each alternative or option was analyzed and combined with user input for closer consideration.

Microsoft ultimately chose to centralize heating and cooling into a single location, creating a geo-exchange field and 280,000 gallons of thermal energy storage for the campus.

 

Neil Bulger, PE, with his team, provided energy target setting for the project master plan and developed a detailed analysis of central plant options while working at Integral Group, providing consultation and collaboration with the Microsoft Development Team.

  • Client & Owner: Confidential
  • Location: Seattle, Washington
  • Type: Technology Campus
  • New construction, 3 million sq.ft.

Project Services: Mechanical Systems Analysis

  • Master planning for new campus
  • Stakeholder process development
  • Goal setting for energy targets & HVAC systems
  • Evaluation of shared central plant and individual building systems
  • Completion: 2017