May 3, 2011: The Most Energy Efficient Building In America
The Most Energy Efficient Building In America
Discoveries & Breakthroughs in Science © 2011 Ivanhoe Broadcast News, Inc.
Reported May 2011
DENVER (Ivanhoe Newswire) — Twenty-percent of the country’s energy is consumed in office building, and most of that is for lighting. Limiting how much energy an employee uses may sound a bit harsh but in a new federal building, built to be greener it’s working. It may be the most energy efficient building in the country.
“I know that sounds like a bold statement but to the best we know it’s true,” Philip Macey, Haselden Construction employee told Ivanhoe.
The office environment is controlled mostly by the climate and lit almost exclusively with daylight.
“The heat from the sun has been captured in the thermal mass of the concrete wall, delayed, and then allowed to enter the building later tonight. And that is how a building makes energy. It essentially captures the energy of the climate,” Macey said.
“The building is considered to be a living laboratory, and the performance of the building has in some ways even surpassed what we had anticipated,” Roselle Drahushak-Crow, a U.S Department of Energy employee told Ivanhoe.
Dozens of solar collectors, concrete walls and awnings direct sunlight where and how it’s needed. “So we are looking at the south-facing exposure. All of the south-facing windows have been carefully sized so they let in just enough daylight,” Macey explained.
“And as the sun goes over the south side of the building they bounce light up into the space and up across the ceiling plane and bounces light back down to the work station. So that we don’t have to turn on the lights during the work day,” Wendy Weiskopt, RNL Design employee told Ivanhoe.
In fact, each worker is allowed only 55 workstation watts.
“There was a learning curve at first, but I absolutely love working in this building. The natural daylight provides enough light for me to get my work done at my computer ninety-eight percent of the time,” Kakie Walker, NREL employee told Ivanhoe.
Each desk has a six-watt LED lamp just in case it’s needed. Indoor it stays about seventy degrees otherwise employees get an on-screen alert.
“Then it will say please close your window if there are windows open it will say please close your window. You know, they are still working on getting it just right, you can’t make everyone happy,” Leigh Ramsey, NREL employee told Ivanhoe.
But everyone is pleased with performance. Minute by minute monitoring indicates, so far this year, the building has made more energy than it’s used. The Department of Energy reports construction costs for the new building were comparable to other office buildings of its size, yet annually the building saves enough energy to power 500 homes.
The American Society of Civil Engineers and the Materials Research Society contributed to the information contained in the TV portion of this report.