Atlanta Facility Tours

BOTH TOURS SOLD OUT
Tour fee: US$12.00/person. Maximum attendance 50 participants.
Government-issued photo I.D. required. Comfortable and closed-toe walking shoes recommended; tour requires walking up and down stairs. No photography or videography permitted.

9:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
1:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.

Located in downtown Atlanta, CNN Center is the corporate headquarters of Turner Broadcasting System (a division of Time Warner) and home to Cable News Network, CNN International, CNN en Espanol, Headline News (HLN) networks and CNN.com. The 1.2 million square foot facility consists of four towers and is connected to the Omni Hotel and Philips Arena, home of the Atlanta Hawks and Thrashers.

Built in 1976, it was home to an indoor amusement park, a theater and an ice skating rink, in addition to leased corporate office space. Ted Turner acquired the facility in 1987, and it became the broadcast facility for a new 24-hour news cable television station, Cable News Network.

Attendees will see the new CNN Worldwide studio set, the CNN Worldwide newsroom, the HLN set and newsroom, and the central plant that makes this 24/7 operation possible. Hear from the Association of Energy Engineers recipient of the Energy Manager of the Year for 2009. Learn how CNN Center has realized more than US$11 million dollars in energy savings since 1995. In the spring of 2008, CNN Center was in the direct path of an F2 tornado. Despite damage in excess of US$13 million, the networks remained operational and on-air. Hear from the vice president of facilities to find out how Turner Properties (the facilities division of Turner Broadcasting) responded to the disaster and kept CNN on-air.

SOLD OUT
Tour fee: US$12.00/person. Maximum attendance 30 participants.
Government-issued photo I.D. required. Comfortable and closed-toe walking shoes recommended. Some restrictions on photography and videography.

The Georgia Aquarium is home to more aquatic life and more animals than any other aquarium in the world. As one of the most visited zoos and aquariums in the U.S., the Georgia Aquarium has hosted more than 11 million visitors since opening in 2005. The more than 600,000 square foot facility contains more than 10 million gallons of water in 60 habitats.

The facility is a showcase for energy, water and operational efficiencies. The aquarium's life support system contains more than 61 miles of pipe and 234 pumps and is the most technologically advanced pump and filtration system in an aquarium. The heating and air conditioning system has 3,600 tons of cooling capacity, enough to cool 1,200 average-sized homes.

The scope and scale of the needs of both the animals and aquarium guests makes this facility tour a unique opportunity for visitors to dive into Q&A with the facility's team to understand the technological components of a specialized business.

SOLD OUT
Tour fee: US$12.00/person. Maximum attendance 40 participants.
Government-issued photo I.D. required. Comfortable and closed-toe walking shoes recommended.

Opened to the public in August 2009, the award-winning Southface Eco Office is a green office building, training center and demonstration facility. It showcases multiple green building materials, technologies and approaches, all functioning together in a rigorous, real-life downtown Atlanta work environment.

It was built with affordable "state-of-the-shelf' materials and technologies—that is, materials and technologies that are currently on the market in Atlanta, reasonably priced and available for anyone to use. It has achieved green building certifications, including the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED Platinum, plus EarthCraft Light Commercial and ENERGY STAR, and uses 84 percent less water and 53 percent less energy than a comparable code-built facility.

The Southface Eco Office provides an interesting destination for visitors as it showcases a green roof; storm water management capabilities; a solar photovoltaic array; waterless urinals; the city's first composting toilet system; low-flow water fixtures; extensive use of recycled and salvaged materials; daily recycling and composting programs; an urban food garden; an Internet-accessible program for tracking its daily energy and water-use performance, and more.

Tour fee: US$12.00/person. Maximum attendance 100 participants.
Government-issued photo I.D. required. No loose jewelry can be worn. Closed-toe walking shoes required. Parts of the tour will include manufacturing.

InterfaceFlor is the #1 positioned modular carpet tile manufacturer in the world. The Ray C. Anderson Plant, InterfaceFlor's flagship manufacturing facility, runs 24/7 and produces more than 400,000 yards of carpet tile a week.

This facility is ISO certified 9001 and 14001, and runs partially off solar and landfill gas. See first-hand how to run a manufacturing facility in the most sustainable and environmentally way possible.

Tour fee: US$12.00/person. Maximum attendance 30 participants.
Government-issued photo I.D. required. Comfortable and closed-toe walking shoes recommended.

A special back-of-house tour of our host facility! The Georgia World Congress Center is the fourth largest convention center in the United States. Located in the heart of downtown Atlanta, the convention center's 3.9 million square feet includes 1.4 million square feet of prime exhibit space in 12 exhibit halls, 106 meeting rooms and two grand ballrooms. Complemented by the Georgia Dome and Centennial Olympic Park, the three facilities comprise one of the finest convention, sports and entertainment complexes in the world. In 2009, the Georgia World Congress Center welcomed more than 1.1 million visitors, hosted 350 events including 53 major tradeshows and conventions, and generated an economic impact of US$1.9 billion.

Tour fee: US$12.00/person. Maximum attendance 75 participants.
Government-issued photo I.D. required. Comfortable and closed-toe walking shoes recommended.

For more than 100 years, ASHRAE has set the foundation for energy efficient buildings through its research, standards and other technical guidance. When it came time to decide whether to renovate its Atlanta headquarters or move to a new location, ASHRAE agreed it must "walk the talk" and renovate the existing facility.

The total renovation of the 34,000 square foot, two-story building began in October 2007 and was completed in June 2008 at a cost of US$7.65 million. ASHRAE set four goals in choosing to renovate: provide a healthy and productive environment for staff; provide a learning center; showcase ASHRAE's technology by creating a living lab; and demonstrate the society's commitment to sustainability.

The building received an A- rating as designed in ASHRAE's new Building Energy Quotient^™ program; LEED^™ Platinum Certification in the New Construction 2.2 rating system from the U.S. Green Building Council; and ENERGY STAR^® from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Tour participants will see many of the sustainable design measures that resulted from the renovation, including:

• Reduction of estimated annual energy usage by more than 32.5 percent through enhancements to the building envelope.
• Utilization of an extensive permanent air quality monitoring system to help sustain occupant comfort and well-being in the renovated building.
• Utilization of a 6,000 CFM dedicated outside air system that can provide ventilation rates to each space that are 30 percent higher than Standard 62.1-2004.
• A comfortable thermal environment that supports the productivity and well-being of all building occupants by adhering to the requirements of ASHRAE Standard 55.
• Demonstration of how PV arrays can be utilized to generate clean power by taking advantage of under-utilized space on building roof.
• Use of the facility as "living lab," which is monitored and metered to capture building performance data.