The Shanghai Starbucks Greener Store Lab is a new concept that serves as a lab focused on circularity, meaning the elimination of waste in both store construction and operations.
The project team set a goal of ensuring that approximately 50% of the building materials could be recycled or biodegraded at the end of the store’s life. Working with the RESET Materials Standard as the framework for quantification and auditing, the project team achieved this 50% goal. Circularity strategies included the creation of a modular bar and back-of-house system that can be easily dismantled and reassembled.
Waste audits were conducted within current Starbucks Reserve Stores to quantify the success rate of the existing waste sorting program. The audits identified opportunities to optimize results via design, such as guiding users to better separate waste into organics, recyclables, and residuals. Other circularity initiatives include affordable reusable cups and Starbucks green aprons made from recycled PET bottles via advanced plastic-to-textile technologies.
Smart Internet of Things technologies are used to better manage air conditioning and lighting, reducing carbon emissions from operations by around 15% compared to a regular Starbucks store of the same size. The store is also the first Starbucks on the Chinese mainland to be powered by renewable energy purchased through a nationally certified platform.
Related Stories
| May 3, 2011
Green building materials in U.S. to exceed $71 billion in 2015
Demand for green building materials is projected to expand 13.0% annually to $71.1 billion in 2015, slightly outpacing the growth of building construction expenditures over that period, according to a new study from The Freedonia Group, Inc., a Cleveland-based industry market research firm. While the rising use of green materials will support gains, the most important driver for demand will be the expected rebound in the construction market.
| Apr 26, 2011
Ed Mazria on how NYC can achieve carbon neutrality in buildings by 2030
The New York Chapter of the American Institute of Architects invited Mr. Mazria to present a keynote lecture to launch its 2030 training program. In advance of that lecture, Jacob Slevin, co-founder of DesignerPages.com and a contributor to The Huffington Post, interviewed Mazria about creating a sustainable vision for the future and how New York City's architects and designers can rise to the occasion.
| Apr 22, 2011
GSA testing 16 emerging sustainable technologies, practices
The GSA is testing and evaluating 16 emerging sustainable building technologies and practices in select federal facilities under its Green Proving Ground program. Testing will determine the most effective technologies that may then be replicated on a wider-scale basis throughout the GSA inventory with the goal of transforming markets for these technologies.
| Apr 19, 2011
Is a building sustainable if it kills birds?
Migratory birds were flying into the windows and falling, dead or injured, to the foot of the LEED-Platinum FBI building in Chicago. The FBI building isn't the only LEED-certified structure to cause problems for migratory birds, however. Some of the more than 33,000 LEED-certified buildings in the U.S. use large amounts of glass to bring in natural light and save on energy—and all that glass can confuse birds.
| Apr 19, 2011
Philadelphia opens massive, LEED-Silver recycling center
The 60,000-square-foot single-stream material recovery facility (MRF) in Philadelphia will process around 20,000 tons of newspaper, cardboard, aluminum, glass, and plastic every month, and will simplify the collection of recyclable materials and increase recycling rates by 50%.
| Apr 19, 2011
AIA announces top 10 green Projects for 2011
The American Institute of Architects Committee on the Environment announced its Top 10 Green Projects for 2011. Among the winners: Cherokee Studios in Los Angeles, the Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colo., and the Vancouver Convention Centre West in Vancouver, British Columbia.
| Apr 19, 2011
BMW dealers driving up sustainable construction in NYC
BMW North America will invest $60 million in two green dealerships in Manhattan. The new stores, which are being designed to cut energy use by 25%, reflect the auto company’s effort to reposition itself as environmentally conscious.
| Apr 19, 2011
15 mind-blowing skyscrapers
Our friends at Inhabitat have rounded up 15 incredible buildings—from underground cities to vertical farms to bio-fuel power plants and skyscrapers.
| Apr 19, 2011
Help the editors choose the next BD+C White Paper topic
The editors of Building Design+Construction want your input on the topic (or topics) we should tackle for our 2012 green building White Paper. Send us your ideas today.