eBay Opens Building with Largest Solar Roof in San Jose |
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May 8, 2008 From The Mercury News By Matt Nauman Today eBay burnishes its green credentials, dedicating an energy-efficient building on its North First Street campus. Building 17, which will get a name like Earth or Eco today, has the largest commercial solar roof in San Jose, the company says. It's the first new building the 13-year-old online auction company has ever built. eBay is all about making inefficient markets efficient, said Gary Dillabough, its general manager of corporate environmental initiatives, and the company applied that philosophy to Building 17. "When you talk to employees, I'm surprised by how excited they are about it," Dillabough said. "I had a woman say, 'I just feel as if this is a healthier building. I feel better in this building.' " Building 17 will be dedicated today in a ceremony featuring eBay Chief Executive Officer John Donahoe, PayPal President Scott Thompson and San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed. The 197,000-square-foot, five-story structure will house about 800 employees of PayPal, eBay's online payment service. It was designed by Valerio Dewalt Train Associates and built by Webcor Builders. It features carpets and cubicle fabrics that use post-recycled materials and water-based paints that you can safely lick. Wes Washburn, eBay's facility operations manager, did - and said it doesn't taste very good. Outside, a large reflecting pool helps keep the building cool as water evaporates. Lots of glass means lots of natural light, said Washburn, who gave a tour of the building earlier this week. Sensors monitor the light and only turn on the efficient fluorescent lights when they're needed. When cubicles are vacated and conference rooms unoccupied, the lights stay off. A wide-screen monitor in the lobby shows real-time energy use. The large solar system on the roof would be enough to generate 15 percent to 18 percent of the campus' electricity needs - prior to the opening of Building 17. Shades on the building's south side automatically lower when heat and light start making things uncomfortable. "As we've become more efficient, we still want to make sure it's an enjoyable place for employees," Dillabough said. eBay says the building meets the gold standard for green buildings, the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED rating. But that wasn't always the plan. Dillabough and Washburn concede that eBay only got serious about making the building green a few years ago, while it was still being designed. Reaching gold, instead of the top platinum standard, was "as far as you can take a construction effort post-design," Washburn said. The company won't say how much the new building cost, but reaching LEED gold added 4 percent to 5 percent to the budget, Dillabough said. Many Silicon Valley tech companies have become vocal about their green efforts. eBay is the latest. "I don't think there was a pressure to do it because other companies were doing it," said Dillabough of constructing a green building. "People increasingly want to bring their environmental values to work," said Libby Reder, eBay's program manager of global citizenship who leads the company's 1,000-plus-member green team. "For a company headquartered in Northern California, that's no exception." About eBay's Building 17
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