Sustainability Engineering

Engineering for sustainability during the design stage can pay huge dividends throughout the life of any facility.

At Stellar, our engineering staff offers advanced expertise in designing sustainable structures through a wide range of strategies, including:

Energy efficiency: Our engineers develop building energy models to determine the stresses on every structure based on its use. Then, they employ strategies to maximize efficiency, including things like solar energy, hydropower, biogas, LED lighting, energy-efficient motors, use of daylight, variable-frequency drives, and others. We can also capture steam condensate or gasses from waste streams to generate energy elsewhere.

Water-use reduction: Stellar’s water-reduction techniques include capturing rainwater for use in cooling towers and plumbing, employing graywater for plumbing and irrigation, specifying high-efficiency water fixtures, using refrigeration wastewater for use in cooling towers, and many others.

Eco-friendly building materials: Stellar’s innovative strategies have included using recycled steel for construction; purchasing carpet and vinyl tiles that include recycled materials; specifying thermal panels from CFC-free manufacturers; specifying low-VOC materials to improve indoor environmental quality; using sustainably harvested wood; and using other locally harvested materials to reduce transportation cost, fuel use and to support local businesses.

At Stellar, we have earned our ranking among the nation’s top “green design and construction” firms by the trade publication ENR (Engineering News-Record). By combining many of the above strategies with recycling initiatives and reduction of our clients’ carbon footprint, we create structures that achieve the highest levels of sustainability while lowering the cost of operations.

Whether your sustainability goals include LEED certification or not, Stellar will assure that your structure meets and exceeds your objectives for environmental responsibility and corporate cost control.