The Department of Energy opened the $135 million Energy Systems Integration Facility (ESIF) in June of 2013. Located at the National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colo., the 182,500-sf facility provides 15 labs and four outdoor test sites for electrical grid integration research. The center features a petascale supercomputer for advanced modeling and simulation as well as a hardware-in-the-loop system for product testing.
The University of British Columbia is partnering with Cisco Systems to develop advanced energy management technologies. The project includes the use of the UBC campus as a living laboratory to create new industry benchmarks for sustainable operations. Cisco will invest up to $1 million over five years to develop an integrated campus-wide energy management network and new automation technologies.
Continued signs of stable economic growth indicate that the recovery is gaining momentum in many parts of the United States and Canada. Construction selling prices for institutional projects grew at a 6 percent annualized rate in 2012, on top of a 3 percent increase in 2011. Construction costs are expected to continue stabilizing and rising in many regions as market confidence and capital spending increase.
Keyano College is building the $22 million Oilsands Power & Process Engineering Lab in Fort McMurray, Alberta. The 16,469-sf facility will feature a fully functional cogeneration plant with steam turbine generators, boilers, and condensers, as well as classrooms, mechanical shops, and support offices. The project team includes architectural firm Dialog, general contractor PCL Construction, and engineering consultant WorleyParsons.
The U.S. Department of Energy opened the $66.8 million Interdisciplinary Science Building at Brookhaven National Lab in April of 2013. Located in Upton, N.Y., the two-story, 87,700-sf facility provides 60 laboratories for research on renewable energy and nanomaterials. The ISB features a humidity-controlled dry room for battery assembly and testing and vibration-mitigated labs for spectroscopic imaging scanning tunneling microscopy (SI-STM) and molecular beam epitaxy fabrication.
Idaho National Lab dedicated its Energy Systems Laboratory in April of 2013 in Idaho Falls. Constructed by Ormond Builders, the 91,000-sf facility provides research, teaching, and demonstration facilities for the study of bioenergy technologies, hybrid vehicles, batteries, and biomass design and analysis. The building houses three reconfigurable high bay research areas, a biomass characterization lab, a computer-assisted virtual environment, and offices. Ground was broken on the project in February of 2011.
The University of Wisconsin-Madison will dedicate the $75.7 million Wisconsin Energy Institute (WEI) on April 5, 2013. Designed by HOK with Potter Lawson as architect of record, the 100,000-sf facility provides wet and dry labs, offices, imaging suites, high bay space, and conference rooms for collaborative research on advanced fuels, renewable energy, and energy storage systems. Ground was broken on the multidisciplinary building in November of 2010 and the project was built by M.A. Mortensen.
Australia's Griffith University is nearing completion of the world's first zero-emission teaching and research facility powered entirely by photovoltaic solar energy and stored hydrogen. In addition to being a practical demonstration of innovative energy technologies, the $40 million Sir Samuel Griffith Centre will serve as a campus cornerstone and collaborative social hub that integrates business, engineering, and environmental science disciplines around the core issues of sustainability.
The Daikin McQuay Applied Development Center is a state-of-the-art, research and development facility for innovative high-efficiency heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) technologies. The Center develops and tests advanced chiller, compressor, and other HVAC technologies to reduce energy consumption and ultimately the carbon footprint of buildings.
The University of Wyoming is planning to build the $30 million Energy Engineering Research Facility (EERF) in Laramie. The 81,000-sf building will feature large-scale, flexibly configured research laboratories, offices, and meeting areas. The project team includes Zimmer Gunsul Frasca Architects of Seattle, Malone Belton Abel of Laramie, and GSG Architecture of Casper. Construction will begin in fall of 2014 with completion expected in spring of 2016.
The University of Wollongong is building the $26 million Sustainable Buildings Research Centre in New South Wales, Australia. The 28,000-sf facility will be the first Australian project to be certified by the Living Building Challenge and is expected to attain a six-star rating from the Green Building Council of Australia. Designed by Cox Richardson of Sydney and built by Baulderstone, the net-zero-energy and net-zero-water building will feature an advanced HVAC system, photovoltaics, wind turbines, and a ground source heat exchanger.
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory broke ground on the the Facility for Low-Energy Experiments on Buildings (FLEXLAB) in December of 2012. Supporting research on the energy performance of building systems, the project will include six interior and exterior testbeds occupying a 9,000-sf footprint. Providing reconfigurable research spaces, the facility will include a double-height testbed for the study of sustainable technologies for two-story structures.
The University at Albany is planning to build the 200,000-sf Zero-Energy Nanotechnology (ZEN) building. A request for proposals was issued in November of 2012 with responses due by January 4, 2013. The cost of the facility is estimated at $80 million. Acting as a living laboratory, the ZEN building will provide labs, classrooms, and offices for clean energy research as well as housing the U.S. Photovoltaic Manufacturing Consortium. The facility will have a net energy consumption of zero while supporting a robust technological infrastructure.
The University of North Carolina dedicated the $76 million Energy Production and Infrastructure Center in November of 2012 in Charlotte. Designed by Narmour Wright Creech Architects, the 200,000-sf teaching and research facility houses the departments of Electrical Engineering and Civil and Environmental Engineering. The collaborative four-story building provides classrooms, offices, laboratories, and high bay space. General contractor Turner Construction broke ground on the project in February of 2010.
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory broke ground on the $54 million Solar Energy Research Center (SERC) in October of 2012. The three-story, 40,000-sf facility will support research on electrochemical and photovoltaic solar energy technologies. Designed by SmithGroup of San Francisco, SERC will house the northern branch of the Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis, a laboratory created in partnership with the California Institute of Technology.
