Implementing Net Zero Energy into the Construction Innovations Center

As the environmental status of our planet declines, it is becoming more and more important for the construction industry to adapt. Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is becoming an unspoken requirement for all new and tenant improvement construction, and now, with the goal of Net Zero Energy (NZE) for all new commercial buildings by 2030, NZE is becoming the way of the future. As of late, California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo (Cal Poly) has made grand efforts to retrofit several of the older buildings on its campus in order to achieve LEED certification. One of the younger buildings on campus that performs very efficiently compared to other buildings on campus is the Construction Innovations Center (CIC), the home of the Construction Management program. Due to the structure being barely ten years old, it was looked over for the LEED retrofitting project. However, being one of the top Construction Management programs in the nation, Cal Poly should display its innovation and prowess. By utilizing strategies based on a past tenant improvement project by DPR Construction (DPR), Cal Poly can implement the strategies DPR used into the CIC in order to make the building become more sustainable and eventually reach NZE