DC Velocity - September 2016

climbing, cycling, snow sports, and the like. It is also heavily involved with organizations that promote environmental stewardship.

“Sustainable operations are part of REI’s ethos,” says Rick
Bingle, the co-op’s supply chain vice president. In order to
stay true to the co-op’s values, REI made choices aimed at
limiting the DC’s demands on natural resources, he adds.
“The Goodyear facility was envisioned from day one to be
sustainable.”
To design the facility and the various energy-efficient
systems it houses, REI sought input from both employee
teams and outside experts. Bingle characterizes the endeav-
or as a truly collaborative process that didn’t have the usual

“handoff” from architect to building contractor. “Having everyone at the table allowed us to [achieve] a net-zero [energy] facility. It was very interactive,” he says.

FUELED WITH SUNSHINE

One of the project’s goals was to
reduce the building’s energy con-
sumption. After all, energy is among
the greatest expenses in a distribu-
tion center—particularly in Arizona,
where it can cost a fortune to cool
a large building. To power the
400,000-square-foot facility sustain-
ably, REI installed 280,000 square
feet of solar panels on its roof. As
Bingle puts it, “We designed the building so that everything
below the roof is powered by everything above.”
The system is rated to produce 2. 2 megawatts of electric-
ity when the sun is shining—roughly the amount required
to power 390 homes in Phoenix—though it actually pro-
duces slightly more. The solar panels have a return on
investment of five years, but REI expects them to last 25
years, which would translate to about 20 years of free elec-
tricity at the facility.

REI’s solar array produces more than it consumes in a year, making the building a “net-zero” energy facility. It uses the public electric grid as a “continuous battery” by sending power to the grid during the day and pulling it back at night. The city of Goodyear’s power station is located adjacent to the facility—just a short cable connection away—which should help maximize facility uptime. Eventually, REI would like to store power onsite using banks of batteries.

The design teams originally calculated that four mega-
watts would be needed to power the building. But when
it became clear that the solar panels wouldn’t be able to
generate that much electricity, the teams worked to reduce
consumption wherever possible to get below the 2.2-mega-
watt threshold. “Everything done inside the building was
designed to reduce electricity usage and heat creation,”
Bingle notes.
For example, a traditional facility of this size in a desert
climate would need about 100 rooftop air conditioning
units. On top of that, it would require a great deal of
water—a valuable commodity in this region—to cool the
units. REI’s facility, by contrast, uses only four units cooled
with a closed-water evaporative system. Not only does this
minimize the amount of electricity required, but the closed
system also saves over 1 million gallons of water each year
versus comparable systems.
Further air conditioning savings
were obtained by stirring the air with-
in the building to reduce the tem-
perature differential between floor
and ceiling to just a few degrees. Plus,
large fans were installed to exhaust
the warmest air away from the ceil-
ing and out of the building. “The air
conditioning design makes it a lot
more comfortable for our workers,”
says Bill Best, divisional vice presi-
dent, supply chain operations.
The office area of the building
was also engineered to create what
the company calls “micro climates.” Many of the offices
are equipped with climate-controlled chairs, known as
Hyperchairs, that incorporate individual fans and heating
elements that allow workers to adjust their temperatures
without affecting the rest of the office space. The chairs’
temperature can be adjusted on control pads built into the
chairs, or via Bluetooth and a smartphone app.

ECO-FRIENDLY MATERIAL HANDLING

As for the facility’s handling systems, REI worked with its material handling systems integrator, W&H Systems (now DMW&H), and material handling equipment supplier Knapp to install productive, energy-sipping equipment. This included 24-volt conveyors with motor-driven rollers that shut off when no items are present to convey. Knapp supplied an efficient “pocket sorter” and an OSR Shuttle system. The pocket sorter stores products in bags that are sorted and delivered to workstations for processing.