Sustainability in Self Storage

Building green is good for the environment — and can even save you money!

Have you ever wished for a crystal ball that would show you what self storage facilities of the future might look like? Well, forget the crystal ball.  You won’t need it.

Simply walk into a garden filled with water-conserving succulents, wild grasses, maybe some small shrubs and perennial ground cover.  Look around.  Now, imagine that the garden in which you’re standing is actually covering the entire roof of a building. 

Yes, the roof.  (So, watch your step along the edges.) It’s called a green roof, and it’s one of the many features design professionals can use to help a structure achieve “green building” status. 

Not sure about having a garden on your roof? Fine. Picture instead an array of photovoltaic panels up there capturing solar energy and converting it to electricity.  Your local utility might send you a check instead of a bill each month if you generate enough power this way.
Either way, green building is no long “someday in the future” for the self storage industry.  It’s here today.

Pioneering Efforts

Two new facilities are sporting cutting-edge greenness. One is still on the drawing board in California pending refinancing, while the other just opened in Florida.  Both hope for certification from the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating SystemTM. 

The California facility is being planned for a site in Paso Robles, a little city rich in history ( as well as wineries) near the state’s central  coast.  Design is being handled by architect Ken Carrell of Lake Forest, California- based ARE Associates (areassociates.com).

Climate has a strong bearing on green-building design choices.  “The area tends to get really hot in the day during the summer, but you can have a 20-degree temperature change at night,” Carrell says.

Lots of sunshine suggests potential for solar energy, which is exactly what Carrell is planning.  The facility will actually combine with green-building features topside: a green roof (that garden-planted effect mentioned earlier) and photovoltaic panels.  As water evaporates off the planted roof, it will nationally cool the solar panels, Carrell explains. 

Water’s an especially sensitive resource in “The Golden State,” which has long struggled with dry spells.  “We’re minimized our footprint as much as we can with green practices, ‘notes Carrel.  “The facility backs up to a river, so we can’t use more than 50 percent of the site anyway (due to LEED criteria).  The green roof can count toward the not-cover portion.  A green roof includes barriers and water retention systems,