Walking through Wells Fargo Co.’s new campus in West Des Moines, many of the building’s most unusual features would never be noticed. But it is those unnoticed technologies that company officials are banking on to save them big money down the road.

Designed with energy and environmental systems that are better than standard commercial buildings, the campus joins a growing movement among businesses to build green.

“There seems to be a real interest in this type of construction right now,” said Jim Douglas, a project manager for The Weidt Group, a Minneapolis-based company who managed the energy design consulting process for the new Wells Fargo building. “There are more than 200 projects across the state of Iowa utilizing this technology.”

The four buildings include about 960,000 square feet of office space on land south of Jordan Creek Town Center. High-efficiency glass, advanced heating and cooling controls, efficient motors, ventilation system controls and low-energy-use office equipment are just a few of the tools the Wells Fargo campus, along with several other Des Moines projects, used to cut energy use. Daylight harvesting reduces electrical load demands in the building. Douglas said similar technology was used in construction of the new library, the Des Moines Science Center, the Iowa Events Center and a number of Des Moines public schools.

“Photo sensors detect daylight levels and automatically adjust the output level of electric lighting,” he said. “The energy savings potential in this type of building can be quite significant. People are seeking out solutions to energy costs, and these go a long way.”

As part of the energy-design effort, Wells Fargo enrolled the project in MidAmerican Energy Co.’s Commercial New Construction program, allowing project designers to evaluate a variety of energy-saving initiatives.

“People assume energy-efficient construction will be cost prohibitive,” said Cheryl Howard, senior vice president, corporate real estate and facilities services, for Wells Fargo Home Mortgage. “For us, it was obvious because it saved so much in the long term.”

MidAmerican Energy and The Weidt Group worked together to facilitate and perform the energy design study. Based on the initiatives and a review of company documents, Wells Fargo is eligible for around $810,000 in rebates from MidAmerican, Howard said.

The payback period for the energy-efficient designs is projected to be about one year, which means it will only take one year for Wells Fargo to save enough money to cover the added cost of the energy-efficient technology, she said.

Along with the cost savings, the sustainable design provides long-term environmental savings, such as reduced power-plant emissions, Douglas said.

Besides the notion of huge initial costs, Douglas said many people don’t utilize this type of technology because they are not aware of programs, like those MidAmerican offers, that will give them rebates to be more energy-efficient.

“I’ve had so many people tell me, ‘If I would have known, of course I would have done this,’” he said. “You have to get the message out, and it has to reach builders at the optimal time, and then there just isn’t any reason not to do this. It’s a worthwhile investment.”

Douglas said it costs less to construct a high-performance building than to retrofit existing structures.

The campus will also feature prairie grass in its landscaping, Howard said. They require less water, lawn chemicals aren’t used and mowing is done once or twice a year, she said. These native grasses are also more resistant to disease and drought than traditional green turf grass.

The courtyard gardens will be filled with perennials, grasses and shrubs. Native tree species will provide shade and a series of walking trails will wind through the site, including a public trail that goes around the entire campus, Howard said.

“It will be a pleasant place for team members to work and visually inviting for those driving by, offering a glimpse of how Iowa looked before the pioneers arrived and the state’s prairies succumbed to the plow,” said Matt Evett, a landscape architect with Brian Clark and Associates in Des Moines.

Howard said Wells Fargo is serious about environmental responsibility. It has pledged to make $1 billion in lending and other financial commitments by 2010 to environmentally beneficial business opportunities.

“This has been an enormous undertaking, but the end result is a beautiful campus for Wells Fargo and the communities where we live and work,” Howard said.