Science & Technology Facility on NREL’s South Table Mountain Site

FY2006 Pollution Prevention Award Nomination

Introduction

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory’s (NREL) mission is to develop renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies through research and development. As such, NREL routinely considers and incorporates sustainable design criteria for each new building added to its 327-acre campus on South Table Mountain in Jefferson County, Colorado. NREL strives to reduce overall energy consumption, achieve leadership in sustainable building design, and incorporate facilities seamlessly into the topography of South Table Mountain.

In 2006, NREL completed construction of the Science and Technology Facility, a two-story, 71,000 sq. ft. laboratory research building to be used for collaborative renewable energy research with industry. It houses office and laboratories for 75 people. The building is designed to accelerate development and commercialization of promising new alternative energy technologies, such as solar hydrogen, and energy efficiency technologies.

As NREL scientists develop the latest energy efficiency and renewable energy technologies inside the laboratory, our goal is to incorporate these technologies on our campus. NREL’s Science & Technology Facility is a superb example of how government and industrial buildings can set the highest standard of excellence for sustainable building design and energy efficiency.

Sustainable Design Principles

NREL’s goals for the Science & Technology Facility were to:

· Build a state of the art facility that meets research needs and is a model of sustainable design

· Develop and implement aggressive energy savings,

· Achieve a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEEDTM) Gold rating

· Minimize the building’s footprint on the land, its impact on natural flora and fauna

· Preserve views of the surrounding vistas.

The completed Science & Technology Facility meets the established goals and expresses concepts of sustainable design as described below

Design and Siting

Through an interactive design process, the S&TF siting and building design responds to the natural environmental concerns while optimizing the facility’s sustainability features. The design process began with an initial conceptual model, followed by a design augmentation charrette in which a variety of NREL and DOE stakeholders met with designers and subject matter experts on sustainable design to contribute ideas and discuss siting and design options. The most notable change to the initial concept that resulted from the charrette was the desire for a smaller building footprint to minimize the impact on the site. The outcome of the charrette formed a basis from which a final facility design was developed. From initial concept to final design, the design process resulted in a 37% reduction in the building footprint. The final design maximizes the building’s functionality while also optimizing environmental sensitivity in siting and sustainability features of the building to meet pollution prevention and sustainability goals.

The building is set into the gently sloping site with its long sides facing north and south for optimal daylighting. The site around the building is contoured with deep swales to detain storm water that minimize run off, which could otherwise contribute to flooding of the nearby Pleasant View neighborhood and Lena Gulch, and as a means to allow water to infiltrate directly into the ground to irrigate the landscaping.

Increased Energy Efficiency

The Science & Technology Facility came online in April 2006, with occupants beginning to move into the building in the summer of 2006. While the facility has not yet been fully occupied for full heating and cooling seasons, overall energy usage is projected to be 41% below the level allowable by standards established for laboratory buildings by the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE 90.1). This savings is significant as this is a laboratory type building. NREL estimates the Science & Technology Facility will save approximately $96,000 annually on energy costs as a result of energy-conserving sustainable design decisions. The key building energy savings features include:

· Variable air volume supply and exhaust systems for all laboratory and office areas

· Fan coil units in laboratory spaces

· Low flow chemical fume hoods and laminar flow hoods

· Staged exhaust fans that are activated according to building exhaust needs

· Exhaust air energy recovery and process cooling wastewater energy recovery

· Indirect/direct evaporative cooling

· Adjacent building central plant expansion with high-efficiency chiller and boiler to serve the S&TF load

· Under floor air distribution system in the office area with demand-based ventilation with carbon dioxide monitoring and control

· A daylight capture design that takes advantage of building orientation, window placement, glazing specifications, and shading devices, coupled with integration of occupancy sensors and electronic lighting controls. These steps ensure that daylight provides 100% of the ambient lighting requirements in the office, and 50% in the labs from the hours of 10:00 am to 2:00 pm.

Reduced Operating Costs

The building exterior was designed to use materials that require little or no maintenance. For example, the pre-cast concrete panels, membrane roofing system, and aluminum cladding are all maintenance free.

The building mechanical systems are highly automated and include an extensive network of various monitoring parameters. Constant system monitoring quickly identifies performance problems and facilitates rapid adjustments. The ability to address potential problems immediately saves on costly repairs if such conditions were to go undetected.

All of the exhaust fans serving the office space and laboratories are variable frequency direct drive. Exhaust fans of this type do not require periodic belt replacement.

Environmentally Preferable Building Materials

Low-emitting materials, including paints, adhesives, composite materials, and carpets were chosen for the building. These materials are manufactured with fewer toxic components and thereby subsequent releases to the environment are reduced.

Original plans for the building specified that, at a minimum, 25% of the building materials were to be made with recycled content, and a minimum of 20% of the materials were to be manufactured within 500 miles, consistent with the LEEDs criteria. The S&TF successfully achieves these goals. In fact, the completed building was constructed with 27% of the building materials containing recycled content.

Indoor Environmental Quality

The building offers occupants the benefits of natural daylight through well-placed windows that control glare, light levels, and heat gain, as well as providing expansive views of the outdoors.

The office area features under-floor air distribution allowing each individual office or cubicle occupant to control the flow of air into their workspace, maximizing occupant comfort in an energy efficient manner. This air distribution system also incorporates a carbon dioxide monitoring component which improves the efficiency of air exchanges and indoor air quality.

Resource Conservation

Resource conservation was a key element of the S&TF design and construction. During the course of the project waste minimization practices were employed to maximize resource conservation. As a result, 80% of the construction waste was recycled.

The building itself was designed to reduce water consumption. Water conservation features include native landscaping materials, no permanent irrigation system, and innovative water collection and use systems. These include:

· A butterfly roof over the office module that directs stormwater onto the adjacent landscape to help maintain native vegetation. This has the added benefit of maintaining stormwater runoff at historical levels, reducing the impacts of the S&TF footprint in the watershed.

· Low-flow bathroom fixtures which reduce consumption

· Cooling towers that are operated with an increased water recycle rate over conventional operation, which reduces make–up water requirements.

Because of the innovative sustainable design and green building features of the Science and Technology Facility, NREL’s goals for the facility have been realized. The desired aggressive energy savings, estimated at 41%, was achieved. The facility is on track to achieve at a minimum a LEED Gold rating, with NREL’s formal application to be submitted in FY07. The submittal has not yet been reviewed by U.S. Green Building’s Council. This would be the first DOE federal laboratory facility to achieve the LEED Gold rating. The facility’s physical footprint on the land has been minimized, as well as minimizing its impact on the natural environment. It is sited in an environmentally sensitive manner to blend with the natural landscape and preserve views, and both the design and environmentally-responsible construction have contributed to conserving precious natural resources.