Microsoft Corporation

In 2018, Microsoft embarked on a ground-breaking project to revitalize its East Redmond corporate campus, marking a significant endeavor in their ongoing commitment to their employees, the community in Washington State’s Puget Sound region, and the environment.

Sustainability is at the forefront of the Campus’ modernized design by implementing green infrastructure solutions, minimizing environmental impacts, and tackling regional ecological challenges. The modernized campus design reduces energy and water use, eliminates carbon emissions, and safeguards ecosystems.

Due to AEI’s expertise in the Energy & Utility field and sustainable design, we were selected to assist the Client with creating its next-generation campus. As the Executive Engineer, AEI is responsible for defining the campus’ mechanical, electrical, and piping/plumbing engineering systems concepts and providing guidance and oversight to the design and construction project team members.

AEI also served as the Engineer of Record for the concept, design, and construction support of the all-electric district energy facility, the Thermal Energy Center (TEC), and associated thermal and electrical distribution systems completed in 2022.

AEI's in-depth understanding of energy systems and sustainable engineering profoundly shaped the TEC’s design, which integrates fully electric combined heating and cooling, thermal storage, geothermal well fields, and innovative control strategies to achieve a remarkable 50% energy reduction compared to traditional utility plants.

The TEC’s mechanical engineering systems efficiently transfer energy between systems and optimize energy usage, releasing energy to the atmosphere only when energy cannot be used or stored. To facilitate energy transfer, the TEC features heat pumps connected to the campus' heating and cooling demands, thermal energy storage tanks, and a geothermal field for heat collection and storage.