A Platinum Harvest at UC Davis

DAVIS, CALIF. — UC Davis’ new winery, brewery and food-processing complex received LEED Platinum certification, establishing it as the first university facility of its kind to receive the award.

The grand opening of the new $20 million, 34,000-square-foot teaching-and-research complex located within the Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science is scheduled for January 28.

A major component of green initiatives at the facility is the extensive use of rainwater and on-site energy generation. Rainwater is captured, stored and used for landscaping and toilets, and the building includes a system for capturing carbon dioxide from all wine fermentations.

UC Davis is raising funds to complete an auxiliary building to house equipment that will make it possible to capture, store, and recycle rainwater, which will be reused up to 10 times.

University officials say these systems are intended to eventually make the new facility self-sustaining in water and energy use. The new auxiliary building will also sequester all carbon dioxide captured from on-site fermentations.

Funded entirely by private donations, the new facility houses instruction and research facilities for the school’s Department of Food Science and Technology, and Department of Viticulture and Enology.

The new facility is the second UC Davis building to complete the LEED certification process, and the second on any of the UC system’s 10 campuses.

The team of architects, engineers and builders for the new UC Davis building included the following Northern California firms: BNB Norcal; Flad Architects; Frank M. Booth Inc.; Red Top Electric; KPW Structural Engineers; Creegan + D’Angelo Engineers; and The HLA Group, Landscape Architects & Planners Inc.