News > Mike Hatten Feature
Portland Business Journal Print Edition
Friday, August 13, 2010
Party of Four
"What's the most intriguing use of sustainable engineering you know of?"
MIKE HATTEN
Principal Engineer
Solarc Architecture and Engineering Inc.
For me, sustainable engineering is transformational--both in its effect on how engineers design as well as what society expects from its engineers.
With my particular focus on energy issues, sustainable engineering needs to yield new energy-system designs that also redefine the energy-use expectations of building owners.
The Oregon Military Department's Ontario Readiness Center in Eastern Oregon has reset the department's expectations of energy performance for all future armories. It is predicted to operate 60 percent better than the applicable energy code.
An on-site solare-energy system provides 38 percent of the building's annual energy needs. Mechanical engineer Bob Tikker of Boise, Idaho, readily undertook the design of a heat pump system that uses well water to provide heating and cooling -- a new concept in his firm's portfolio. Boise electrical engineer John Farren accepted the challenge of a similarly new photovoltaic system design.
A heat pump system uses well water to heat and cool the Ontario Readiness Center.
PHOTO COURTESY OF OREGON MILITARY DEPARTMENT
Recreated from an article originally printed in the Portland Business Journal