Energy

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.

Colorado State University began construction in October of 2012 on a 65,000-sf million expansion of the Engines and Energy Conversion Laboratory in Fort Collins. The $18.5 million project will provide additional research space for the College of Engineering and a business incubator. LEED Platinum sustainable design certification will be sought for the facility, which will feature combined heat and power, nighttime cold storage, and the use of wind, solar, and biomass fuel sources.

The University of Kansas completed construction of the $23.6 million Measurement, Materials and Sustainable Environment Center (M2SEC) in Lawrence in August of 2012. Designed by Treanor Architects, the 36,690-sf facility houses the Fracture & Fatigue Laboratory for construction materials testing; an anechoic chamber with wireless shielding for communications research; a biofuels lab; and  the Transportation Research Institute.

The University of Kentucky opened a $20.8 million energy research facility in Lexington in August of 2012. Representing a partnership with Argonne National Lab, the 43,000-sf building houses the Kentucky-Argonne Battery Manufacturing Research & Development Center as well as lab space for industry partners. The project is part of the UK Center for Applied Energy Research (CAER) and was awarded $11.8 million in federal stimulus funding and $3.8 million in state stimulus funding.

The University of California, Berkeley will begin occupying the new Energy Biosciences Building in August of 2012. Formerly known as the Helios Energy Research Facility, the five-story, 112,800-sf project provides collaborative research space for the study of lignocellulosic biofuels. The facility houses wet laboratories for molecular and microbial biology, fermentation, and chemical separation, as well as greenhouses, warm and cold rooms, shared instrumentation space, offices, workrooms, and conference space.

NASA opened its $25 million, 50,000-sf office building in late spring of 2012 in Mountain View, Calif. The facility is expected to attain LEED Platinum sustainable design certification and features Bloom Energy fuel cells, ventilation pumps, photovoltaic panels, a water recovery system, and advanced building controls. The building provides collaborative open offices and is located at the Ames Research Center at Moffett Field. The facility is reputedly the most environmentally advanced federal building in the nation. 

Federal Center South, the nearly completed 209,000-sf regional headquarters building for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, features a host of innovative workplace design strategies, and is on track to exceed aggressive high-performance goals set by the client, the U.S. General Services Administration. The $72 million project is the redevelopment of an existing waterfront building in Seattle.

Dow Corning opened the $11.5 million Solar Energy Exploration and Development (SEED) facility in January of 2012. The two-building project is located in Seneffe, Belgium, and includes the Solar Application Centre and the Silicone Synthesis Technology Centre. Designed by Group IPS, the sustainably designed R&D facility features a geothermal energy system with a heat pump, photovoltaic window shades, a glazed façade, and vacuum insulation panels.

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory is building the $135 million Energy Systems Integration Facility in Golden, Colo. The 182,500-sf project will provide 15 laboratories, four outdoor test sites, a computational data center, and advanced visualization and simulation systems for electrical grid performance research. The project team includes architectural firm SmithGroup and general contractor JE Dunn. LEED Gold sustainable design certification will be sought for the facility. Construction began on the project in spring of 2011.

Okanagan College opened the $28 million Jim Pattison Centre of Excellence in Sustainable Building Technologies and Renewable Energy Conservation in December of 2011. Located in Penticton, British Columbia, the zero-energy, zero-waste facility features the largest photovoltaic solar array on a non-utility building in Canada. Supporting education, research, and training in sustainable design, the building includes interactive instrumentation for the monitoring of building systems. The facility also houses the Okanagan Research and Innovation Centre. 

The University of Ontario Institute of Technology opened the Energy Systems and Nuclear Science Research Centre (ERC) in November of 2011 in Oshawa. The 100,000-sf building provides space for instruction, training, and research in nuclear engineering and sustainable energy development. The $45.4 million facility houses administrative and faculty offices, research and teaching labs, a 72-seat lecture hall, a four-story atrium, and study space. Construction began on the project in November of 2009 and reached completion in August of 2011.