Tools

Encana Moves into New Eco-Friendly Facilities

by KREX News Room
by Cori Coffin

Story Created: Oct 29, 2012 at 8:02 PM MDT

Story Updated: Oct 30, 2012 at 7:35 AM MDT

PARACHUTE, Colo.- To accommodate its growth in the past decade, one oil and gas giant has a new home on the Western Slope. NewsChannel 5 was given a tour of Encana Oil and Gas's new building.

At one point during the tour, Sandy Kent with Encana Oil and Gas shuffled her legs to show movement to the sensor under her desk that monitors power to the computer.

It's just one aspect in the new eco-friendly, three-floor facility that's aimed at keeping energy usage down.

"In the field we are constantly striving to reduce our footprint for drilling and operating, and we're doing the same thing in our buildings," explained Kent.

Compared to a base building, the $6 million offices are 22 percent more energy efficient; they use 31 percent less electrical demand and 35 percent less natural gas. That's an overall reduction in utility usage of 22 percent.

One of the ways the company keeps costs low is by capitalizing on natural light; the room for lease operators is filled with double-paned windows that keeps the heat out. Sensors control artificial lights. Even durable materials promote the building's sustainability, as well as that of the local economy.

"We used about 80 percent local contractors; that was very important to us because we are part of the community, and we want to support the community every way we can," said Kent.

Local contractors built many features into the space so that the company can adjust to the growing demands of tomorrow's commerce.

"We are able to take this building, reconfigure some of the cubicles, add cubicles, change existing meeting rooms and project rooms into offices, so that way we can accommodate the growth that may occur in the future," explained Kent.

The estimated 240 employees who serve the Piceance Basin bring the office space to 75 percent capacity, which officials say is the optimum number to conserve money that can be reinvested into the company and community.

Building began in January, and employees were able to move in Oct. 22.

The new location in Parachute is larger than Encana's previous location in the same city that was just a few miles away.

Add a comment

Name:

Comment: 1000 Characters Left

KREX - News, Weather, Sports for Grand Junction | Montrose | Glenwood Springs - Coverage You Can Count On and its affiliated companies are not responsible for the content of comments posted or for anything arising out of use of the above comments or other interaction among the users. We reserve the right to screen, refuse to post, remove or edit user-generated content at any time and for any or no reason in our absolute and sole discretion without prior notice, although we have no duty to do so or to monitor any Public Forum.

Most Popular
This content requires the latest Adobe Flash Player and a browser with JavaScript enabled. Click here for a free download of the latest Adobe Flash Player.
News Channel 5 Weather