AlfaTech Newsletter July 2019

N O T F O R E X T E R N A L D I S T R I B U T I O N

PROJECT UPDATE

PAULA’S GREEN TIPS

Reducing Phantom Power

Phantom usage is a huge culprit in reducing energy use and costs for your building or home. What is Phantom Usage? Phantom usage occurs when you leave a device (like your pesky cell phone charger) plugged into the wall socket. The device is constantly drawing small amounts of energy as it is left plugged in. Some of these devices draw very little power (1 to 5 watts), which might not seem like much since it would take 1,000 to 200 hours for one device to use a single kilowatt-hour. Think about all the appliances in your home or office; we constantly leave devices plugged and it is drawing wasted energy, resulting in higher electric bills. Two to three dollars, every single month for long periods of time, may not seem like a huge cost. Why not save money (and energy!) by actively making the decision to unplug devices you aren’t using? Ways to Reduce Phantom Usage Unplug as many items in your home/office you deem reasonable – you can unplug appliances like toasters, chargers, blenders, etc. that you don’t use regularly. Make it a habit to peruse through a room to unplug anything you’re not using. I unplug most of the devices in my apartment (power strips, TV, etc.) when I’m going to be out of town to prevent this. Purchase a SmartStrip that has the ability to kill phantom drain from all devices plugged in. These power strips contain a switch that allows the ability to kill the phantom drain as well as have kill the phantom drain as well as have the functionality to turn of all devices. These types of power strips are especially useful if you need to leave devices plugged in.

Clockwise left to right: Project rendering. Mellody Hobson & George Lucas at the groundbreaking ceremony. A construction progress photo by Aaron Poplar.

Lucas Museum of Narrative Art

It’s been two years since AlfaTech started working on the futuristic looking Lucas Museum at Exposition Park in Los Angeles, CA. The 1,127,000 SF project is currently under construction. The parking garage, which was dug two stories below grade, is underway. Over 15 miles of underground HDPE pipe has been installed for the geothermal system, which comprises of 715 vertical boreholes, each drilled 360 feet deep. The formwork for the ground level is being installed, and they’re on schedule to finish pouring the main floor deck this summer. Completion is slated for 2021. Project Feature The entire project is built on an isolation platform which allows for 4-foot movement in any 2-dimensional direction to help protect the structure from earthquake damage. All water lines, sewer lines, gas lines, electrical, and fiber has been designed to cross this 4- foot isolation gap without breaking during a seismic event. Project Highlight This is the first project in the City of Los Angeles to receive permit approval for the use of onsite bio reaction system that treats greywater, rainwater, and recycled water. The innovative system captures water from lavatories, showers, condensate, and rooftop rainwater and is treated onsite to be used for toilet and urinal flushing. This type of design had never been seen before in the city of LA and was reviewed by a total of seven jurisdictions with a 6-month approval process.

Our dedicated AlfaTech project team is based in our Los Angeles and San Jose offices: Diarmuid Hartley, Aaron Poplar, Kyu Lee, Junli Zhang, Mark Seegel, and Rich Garrison.

Note: The details of this project, including the images above, must remain entirely confidential and must not be shared outside AlfaTech due to our NDA contract with our client.

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