Stoughton IKEA aims to save green -- by being green
It's not every day that men's room urinals make for interesting conversation. But the ones at the new IKEA store in Stoughton are something to talk about: They have no handles to flush and don't use water. Gravity does the job, saving an estimated half-million gallons of water from going down the drain annually.
The new-fangled, environmentally friendly feature is just one of many incorporated throughout the 346,000-square-foot store scheduled to open next week. IKEA has paid attention to details from design to construction to meet standards for the store to be a LEED-certified building -- a designation that saves the company money and garners goodwill from environmental types.
LEED, which stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, is a ''green" building rating system that sets a national standard for developing high-performance, sustainable buildings. Members of the US Green Building Council, which represents all segments of the building industry, developed the system to promote and recognize environmental leadership in the industry and to raise consumer awareness of green building benefits.
As a registered LEED building about to get its certification, IKEA's Stoughton outlet has acquired points for providing alternative transportation for its employees, saving water, creating an energy efficient store, and for using recycled materials to build the facility.
''IKEA has always been a strong environmental company," declared store manager Frank Briel. The company already recycles plastic, cardboard, metal, and glass in its stores, and uses only wood from tree farms for its furniture, to spare established forests. ''Now, it's more than recycling and materials. Now, it's the actual store," said Briel.
During the 13 months of construction on the approximately $50 million store, workers used an on-site rock crusher to smash more than $1 million in gravel that didn't have to be transported in, which cut down on truck emissions. The rocks were then used as foundation material for roads leading into the complex. Also, 74 percent of the steel used to construct the building was recycled.
There are other environment-saving efforts as well, the company says, including a free weekend shuttle bus program that customers as well as employees can ride from the Quincy Adams MBTA station. A Brockton Area Transit bus will also stop at the store. And if any of the store's 500 employees feel like pedaling to work, the Stoughton building has shower facilities and 16 bicycle racks.
It has also placed plants on 37,000 square feet of the store's roof, to cut down on storm-water runoff and add oxygen to the environment. (Company representatives still have to deal with the state Division of Professional Licensure on its regular roof drainage system to get a variance for a design that has been approved by Stoughton officials but is not standard under state plumbing regulations, according to division director Anne L. Collins.) There are also three 30,000-gallon tanks on the property to store rainwater for irrigation, rather than use town water.
A computer-controlled energy management system is in place to control lighting and temperature, to ensure that the lights are turned off and the space cools down when the building is empty. The facility is 35 percent more efficient than standard building codes require, said Briel.
But, what about the flush-free urinals?
Briel admits the concept of waterless urinals is a little hard to imagine. But ''they are perfectly hygienic," he quickly offered, adding that the urinals will reduce water use at the Stoughton store by some 40 percent -- the facility's ''biggest water savings."
To help those who will miss the flush, a sign explaining the system has been placed above each of the 11 urinals in the men's room. It lets the customer know that not flushing will save the company 40,000 gallons a year per urinal. ''It keeps them from looking for the handle," said Briel.
The urinals are constructed with a slant at the drain so that liquid flows easily down the pipes and into the sewer system. Odors are trapped in the drain by a chemical liquid sealant.
The Stoughton store will be the IKEA's first to be LEED-certified. Nationwide, there are 2,164 LEED-registered projects, meaning they are working on certification that comes upon completion of the project. There are 285 certified projects in 50 states and 12 countries. In Massachusetts, there are 17 LEED-certified projects, including two buildings at Milton Academy, according to the US Green Building Council website.
The IKEA outlet stands out as a registered LEED building because of its large retail space. Most certified projects are educational institutions, architectural firms, or business offices.
''It's strange to see a retail building in there," said Briel. ''When you are building a building this big, it takes more work to produce it. There are so many contractors. There are so many people involved, from designers to electricians to steel workers."
But within the past three years, more developers seem to want to go the extra mile to make buildings ''green," especially with the rise in energy costs, said James Christo, program director of green buildings and infrastructure for the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, an economic development agency that administers and manages the state's renewable-energy trust. The collaborative gave IKEA $20,000 in 2002 for a feasibility study on building green and using renewable energy.
''A lot of companies or facilities will design their buildings to LEED [standards], which is what we encourage," said Christo. ''But certification requires an extra amount of effort and there is a lot of extra cost to do that, which many companies decide not to do."
He said companies are interested in the concept because it saves on energy expenditures and can even create a more productive atmosphere for workers and thus reduce health costs.
''The energy saving typically is around 30 percent better" than standard-to-code buildings, he said.
Sandy Coleman can be reached at sbcoleman@globe.com. 
