McKinstry and Lumen Field Honor Zero+ Champions of Sustainability

Central Valley School District, Federal Way Public Schools, Western Washington University and Seattle Colleges recognized for advancing sustainability, reducing carbon emissions and strengthening community.

SEATTLE — [October 12, 2026] — McKinstry and Lumen Field partnered to honor Central Valley School District, Federal Way Public Schools, Western Washington University and Seattle Colleges as Zero+ Champions of Sustainability. The awards mark the second round of 2026 Zero+ Champions recognition and were presented on October 11 in a ceremony held at Lumen Field during the Seattle versus San Francisco football game.

The Zero+ Champions of Sustainability Awards emerged from an ongoing collaboration between Lumen Field and McKinstry. The program honors organizations for advancing sustainability, reducing carbon emissions and strengthening community resiliency. By highlighting local achievements, McKinstry and Lumen Field hope to inspire other organizations to strengthen their own initiatives while showcasing how teamwork can drive lasting results.

“These four organizations run very different operations, but they each made a steadfast commitment to treat carbon reduction as core to the mission, not a side project,” said Dale Silha, McKinstry senior vice president. “A district retrofitting a dozen schools, another one owning its own solar, a university planning to phase out its steam plant and a college system turning campus infrastructure into a classroom. That’s what regional leadership looks like when it moves from pledge to project.”

Here’s how each winner is advancing sustainability, decarbonization and community resiliency:

Central Valley School District

Central Valley School District made energy efficiency a districtwide priority across one of Eastern Washington’s largest school systems, serving roughly 14,500 students in Spokane Valley and Liberty Lake. The district completed an investment-grade study across 12 schools and secured a $1,085,500 Washington State Energy Efficiency Grant to fund districtwide lighting retrofits, digital control upgrades at 10 schools and high-efficiency HVAC at two elementary schools.

Building on that foundation, the district continues to lower energy use through ongoing energy management, remote operations support and Clean Buildings Performance Standard compliance, treating sustainability as a long-term commitment rather than a single project.

Federal Way Public Schools

Federal Way Public Schools is turning its rooftops into clean power for one of Washington’s most diverse communities in South King County. Over the past two summers, the district advanced five solar projects with arrays completed at Lake Grove, Sunnycrest, Wildwood and Valhalla elementary schools. Another was completed at its Support Services Center facility. The district owns its arrays and consumes 100% of the power they generate, sending utility savings straight back to its students. The solar arrays generate enough electricity to take an entire school’s electrical load off the grid.

By pairing on-site solar with demand management, Federal Way Public Schools reduces peak demand charges and eases strain on the local grid while building in workforce development, minority- and women-owned business inclusion and student STEM engagement. These projects were primarily funded through Solar & Storage grants from the Washington State Department of Commerce.

Western Washington University

Western Washington University set an ambitious goal: becoming the first carbon-neutral university campus in Washington by 2035. That vision comes to life in Kaiser Borsari Hall, the state’s first publicly funded academic building to earn dual Zero Energy and Zero Carbon certification from the International Living Future Institute. The all-electric engineering and computer science facility has a mass-timber structure that sequesters 466 tons of CO2e, solar panels to generate electricity onsite, efficient heating and cooling systems, and passive design strategies to improve energy performance.

WWU is now beginning a multi-phase project to retire the gas-fired central steam plant that heats much of campus and replace it with a low carbon, hot water system powered by heat pumps, rooftop solar, and a planned future connection to a Port of Bellingham district energy network. A facility condition assessment across the whole existing system forms the backbone of that phased, campus-wide decarbonization roadmap.

Seattle Colleges

Seattle Colleges, Washington’s largest college district, is decarbonizing across its entire portfolio while turning the work into a living laboratory for students. At Seattle Central College, the district is advancing a roughly 500,000-square-foot EcoDistrict that replaces an aging steam plant with a heat pump–based district energy system launched with a $755,000 Washington Clean Energy Fund grant.

The effort extends to all three colleges, which have won state solar and energy-efficiency grants for on-campus arrays and for HVAC, lighting and controls upgrades. Total grant funded equals roughly $2.28 million in all.

“Our partnership with McKinstry shows what’s possible when we work together toward a common goal,” said Christy Briggs, sustainability manager at Lumen Field. “Celebrating these champions at Lumen Field is a reminder that sustainability is a team effort that reaches far beyond the stadium and into our communities.”

McKinstry and Lumen Field will recognize a final round of Zero+ Champions of Sustainability on November 8.

About McKinstry

McKinstry is a national leader in designing, constructing, operating and maintaining high-performing buildings. From new construction and ongoing operations to adaptive reuse and energy retrofits, the company provides a single point of accountability across the entire building lifecycle. McKinstry focuses on people and outcomes to ensure the built environment serves owners, operators and occupants alike. McKinstry is your trusted partner for the life of your building. Learn more at www.mckinstry.com.