For new commercial building solutions to spread at the pace and scale today’s challenges require, real-world demonstrations are needed to remove barriers and enable others to follow in the risk-adverse commercial building sector. The Alliance Center is well positioned to serve as the leading demonstration site in the building sector for many reasons including:
The Alliance Center is open to exploring any technology or approach with the potential of dramatically reducing the commercial building sector’s negative impact. We engage in two types of projects:
where success is measured by the lessons learned and how effectively those lessons are shared.
where individual companies test specific technologies or approaches in need of validation to accelerate their path to the wider commercial building market.
The Alliance Center is currently focused on solutions that increase the spread of clean energy sources or health and wellness impacts for the occupants of our building.
We have installed a Fermata Energy Vehicle to Building (V2B) system at The Alliance Center. Fermata Energy’s bidirectional EV charging system allows our dedicated Nissan LEAF from Colorado Carshare to transfer energy from the battery back to our commercial building in order to support our electric loads — all while reducing costs.
We are collaborating with Gensler to understand work trends following the COVID-19 pandemic and how buildings must adapt in response. Gensler provided a performance index survey assessing our tenants’ current and future needs. These results will provide valuable information to help The Alliance Center stay ahead of trends and guide our return to office strategies.
The Alliance Center has installed air quality monitors throughout our building in collaboration with our partners Kaiterra and BranchPattern. Together, we are working to research and measure occupant perception of indoor air quality (IAQ) and track performance over time to find opportunities to continue to improve IAQ.
In 2021 The Alliance Center earned the WELL Health-Safety rating– a new certification that was created in response to the COVID outbreak. This rating shows that our building has passed the rigorous review process and adheres to high standards for occupant health and wellness. Our policies and operations help employees, tenants and guests feel safe at our building.
We are exploring a partnership with the Wells Fargo Innovation Incubator (IN2) to serve as a testing and demonstration site for companies in need of a product testing and demonstration location. We are specifically in conversations with a company looking for a field test for their solar harvesting window.
Our existing Direct Current Microgrid project is quantifying the potential savings created from direct current microgrids and direct current distribution. We are also actively exploring additional research and demonstration needs involving microgrids and/or distributed energy storage.
The Alliance Center focuses on the the intersection of utility carbon reduction targets, electric vehicles and building technologies. We look at ways buildings can be a conduit between EVs and the utility while also reducing building energy costs. Also, we’re interested in quantifying the health and/or productivity benefits of various building interventions such as air quality, space design or occupant engagement strategies.
Our team has years of experience operating a collaborative shared space at the highest levels of performance. We have advised partners in the various areas included below. Email us at info@thealliancecenter.org if you are interested in discussing a potential consulting engagement!
