Sustainable and Net-Zero Buildings on NREL Campuses

The 15,000-ft² Research and Innovation Laboratory (RAIL) features two collaborative laboratory spaces. As a Guiding Principles-compliant federal building, RAIL employs integrated design, optimizes energy performance, protects and conserves water, enhances indoor environmental quality, reduces the environmental impact of materials, and assesses and considers climate change risks.

Energy Use

The facility features:

• Daylighting in southern collaboration spaces
• LED lights with a lighting control system to reduce lighting power by 50%
• Eliminated bypass air at the exhaust stacks
• Direct evaporation, indirect evaporation, and heat recovery systems to minimize heating and cooling requirements
• Variable air volume laboratory supply and exhaust air systems
• Campus waste heat distribution loop for energy recovery
• High-performance fume hoods throughout the laboratories
• A solar-ready roof for future installations
• Electrical infrastructure for a future microgrid to improve resilience.

Sustainability

• Crews installed 2,810 ft² of carbon-neutral floors, which help offset 2 metric tons of carbon dioxide, or the equivalent of a car traveling 4,964 miles.
• Carpet installed in the corridor and collaboration space is the first carbon-negative carpet installed in Colorado.
• The building features bird-friendly etched glass to deter bird collisions. Glass is coated with high-performance Solarban low-e coating for optimized energy performance.
• The lab's double-insulated precast wall system is made of natural materials.

Water Conservation

Water-saving features include:

• Low-flow fixtures, including toilets, urinals, and faucets
• Ground loop for domestic cold water
• Gabion walls on the exterior of the building incorporated with native plants and seedlings to ensure low maintenance and low water consumption.

The 182,500-ft² LEED Platinum Energy Systems Integration Facility features 14 laboratories, an Insight Visualization Center, a High-Bay Control Room, and the world's most energy-efficient supercomputer.

Energy Use

The facility features:

• Office space designed to have an energy use intensity of 25 thousand British thermal units per square foot, per year
• Non-data center space designed to perform 30% better than American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers 90.1 2007 standards
• Natural ventilation through operable windows
• Daylighting in about 80% of regularly occupied spaces
• Open office design and a narrow floor plate of 60 ft
• LED lights with a lighting control system
• Radiant heating and cooling.

Sustainability

About 27% of building materials contain recycled content.

Water Conservation

Water-saving features include:

• Dual-flush water closets
• Low-flow fixtures, including toilets, urinals, showers, and faucets.

Awards

2014 R&D Magazine Laboratory of the Year Award

2014 R&D Magazine Editors' Choice Award for the HP Apollo 8000 System

2014 DOE Sustainability Award

2014 Finalist for Project Management Institute's Project of the Year Award

The 362,055-ft² Research Support Facility is an award-winning model for LEED Platinum, net-zero, and high-performance building design that incorporates the best energy efficiency and environmental-performance technologies and practices in a large-scale commercial office building.

Designed to be a net-zero building, the 1,660-ft², LEED Platinum South Site Entrance Building provides security services as an entry/exit point.

Energy Use

The building features:

• Daylighting
• Natural ventilation, including a 35-ft wind-catch tower and under-floor air distribution system
• 16.1-kilowatt roof-mounted photovoltaics
• Geothermal water-to-water heat pump
• Radiant heating and cooling
• LED lights with a lighting control system.

Sustainability

• More than 35% of building materials contain recycled content and 2.5% are rapidly renewable.
• The building features low-emitting building materials.

The 71,347-ft² Science and Technology Facility was the first federal LEED Platinum building.

Energy Use

• The building was designed to provide a 41% reduction in energy cost compared to a standard laboratory building.
• Roofing materials are ENERGY STAR® certified.
• The building design exceeds American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers 90.1 1999 requirements for energy efficiency.
• Windows on the north and south facades provide natural lighting.
• Energy is recovered from exhaust air to temperature-condition fresh air.
• Displacement ventilation is used for the offices.
• A high-efficiency chiller saves energy for both the Science and Technology Facility and the adjoining Solar Energy Research Facility.

Sustainability

• About 27% of the total building materials were manufactured within a 500-mile radius.
• No chlorofluorocarbon-based refrigerants are used in heating, refrigerating, and air conditioning.
• About 80% (by weight) of the construction, demolition, and land-clearing waste was recycled or salvaged.
• At least 25% of the total building materials were composed of 20% post-consumer waste recycled content.

Water Conservation

• Stormwater collects on the butterfly roof and flows into a series of ponds used to irrigate the landscape.
• The building features low-flow fixtures, such as ultra-low-flow (0.5 gallon per flush) urinals.

The 27,000-ft² LEED Gold Integrated Biorefinery Research Facility features a high-bay biochemical conversion pilot plant that handles up to 1 ton of dry biomass per day, multiple stand-alone fermentation systems, and compositional analysis laboratories.

Energy Use

The facility features:

• Natural ventilation through operable windows
• Daylighting
• An open-office design
• LED lights with a lighting control system.

The 12,140-ft² LEED Platinum cafeteria holds 250 occupants and uses about 25% less energy than a cafeteria built to equivalent commercial code at construction.

Energy Use

Building features include:

• An energy use intensity of 150 thousand British thermal units per square foot, per year
• Daylighting and tubular skylights to achieve uniform light distribution across the main dining area space to limit the use of electric lighting
• ENERGY STAR-certified appliances and other high-efficiency equipment
• A kitchen ventilation system with demand-controlled exhaust hoods
• Cutting-edge duct grease sensors to monitor buildup and alert the operator when cleaning is necessary
• LED lights with occupancy sensors in the walk-in refrigerator, freezers, and hoods that turn on and off automatically.

Water Conservation

Water-saving measures inside and outside the building include:

• Dual-rinse, water-conserving dishwashers
• Methods for recycling stormwater
• Low-flow, pre-rinse water valves.

Award

2013 U.S. Green Buildings Council Platinum LEED Rating

NREL's parking garage is designed to LEED Platinum standards and is expected to perform 90% better than a standard garage built to code. The 578,320-ft² structure has 1,800 parking spaces and 108 electric vehicle charging stations.

Energy Use

The garage's energy-saving features include:

• Daylighting and translucent skylights
• Natural ventilation
• 1.2 megawatts of facade- and roof-mounted photovoltaics used within the energy boundary of the Research Support Facility
• LED lights with a lighting control system.

Sustainability

The garage's sustainable features include:

• Bird-friendly glass
• Electric vehicle charging stations
• Incentive parking for high-occupant vehicles and low-emitting vehicles
• Recycled content in about 35% of the building's low-emitting materials
• Recycling drop-off center for paper, plastic, glass, batteries, and electronics.

Water Conservation

A drainage swale encourages ground infiltration of stormwater and snowmelt.

Built in 1994, the 6,459-ft² Education Center displays technologies that can save energy, create jobs, and generate clean electricity and fuels from plentiful domestic, carbon-free sources.

Energy Use

The Education Center's energy-saving features include:

• A Trombe wall that lights and heats the exhibit hall
• A direct evaporative cooling system
• LED lights with a lighting control system
• An energy management system that monitors temperature, humidity, and occupancy.