One of Utah’s oldest federal buildings will be one of its cleanest — energywise

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The Frank E. Moss U.S. Courthouse, first completed in 1905, is getting a makeover that is intended to be an example for the nation of how a historic building can find a climate-friendly second century.

The neoclassical building at the corner of Salt Lake City’s 400 South and Main was Utah’s first and only federal courthouse for more than a century. It was also the city’s main post office for decades, but it has been vacant since the federal courts were moved to the new Orrin G. Hatch U.S. Courthouse to the west in 2014.

The Moss building, one of the state’s oldest federal offices, has been undergoing an extensive $50 million refurbishing that includes seismic protections to bind together the original structure with later additions in 1912 and 1932. The rebuild also will open up new skylights to reduce electric lighting during the day.

Using a “chilled beam” system for heating and cooling, the courthouse will be an all-electric building that eventually will be net zero, meaning the energy required to run it will come from carbon-free sources that do not add to climate change. The chilled beam system works by moving hot and cold water rather than air. That is not only more energy efficient but also healthier because it doesn’t push viruses, bacteria and dust through the building.

That net-zero status will come when Salt Lake City and 17 other communities in the Utah Community Renewables program secure enough clean energy sources to go net zero, which is expected in the next couple of years.

“This is a model for what we can do with an historic building,” said Robin Carnahan, administrator for the U.S. General Services Administration, who came to Utah to tour the building and tout the update.

When it reopens next year, the building will still have two courtrooms to be used by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court. It will also be home to 10 other federal tenants, including U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division, the National Park Service and the U.S. Marshals Service.

“The beautiful and dignified interiors will once again serve the people of Utah in the context of the United States bankruptcy system,” said U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Kevin Anderson, who joined Carnahan for the tour.

Anderson noted that bankruptcy court proceedings are the most common way that individual Americans interact with the federal court system, and more than half a million Utahns have sought relief in bankruptcy court since the first federal bankruptcy law was enacted in 1898.

The building’s climate efficiencies extend to the materials used to remodel it, all of which are sourced domestically as part of the federal effort to bring more manufacturing stateside.

Erin Holcombe, GSA project manager and an architect, said the concrete is produced through a low-carbon process and comes from a Utah concrete supplier, Altaview Concrete.

Darin Davis, quality assurance manager for Altaview, said in an interview that the company has converted to “Type 1L” concrete, which requires less material from fossil-fueled kilns and uses recycled fly ash.

That lowers the “global warming potential,” or GWP, number of the concrete. Davis said a low GWP is a growing requirement in government and industry. “It’s only a matter of time before everyone is going to require it.”

Similarly, low-carbon steel is used throughout the building. Holcombe said that required supplies from all over the country, including Washington and Wisconsin. Even the carpeting will be net-zero emissions.

“I will selfishly say it’s great that Utah is the model for the future of making our buildings nationwide energy efficient,” said Christopher W. Merritt, a State Historic Preservation officer for Utah.

Carnahan’s visit is part of an election-year tour she is doing to promote President Joe Biden’s clean energy agenda. She said federal projects like the Moss courthouse are adding clean energy jobs, saving energy costs for taxpayers and reducing climate impact for future generations.