Energy

Rochester Institute of Technology broke ground on the $35 million Golisano Institute for Sustainability in April of 2011 in Rochester, N.Y. The 75,000-sf project is support by a $13.1 million NIST construction grant and $10 million in funding from the state of New York. The multidisciplinary facility will provide labs, classrooms, and conference rooms for research and development of sustainable business practices.

Rolls-Royce is planning to build two manufacturing facilities in Rotherham in the United Kingdom. The 150,000-sf Advanced Blade Casting Facility will produce jet engine turbine blades. The 209,000-sf Project PoWer factory will make vessels for nuclear reactors. Construction could begin in 2012.

Siemens will build an offshore wind turbine manufacturing facility in the Port of Hull in the United Kingdom. The construction cost of the production plant is estimated at $130 million.

Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory will construct a $54.4 million a solar energy research center in Berkeley, Calif. The 21,471-sf, three-story lab and office building will accommodate research on materials science and biofuels. The sustainably designed facility will feature advanced lighting and building systems.

Lunera Lighting, a Silicon Valley company that designs, manufactures, and markets next-generation LED lighting, has announced the commercial availability of the 1200 Series Grid Lay-in Fixture. The energy efficient, dimmable, backlit luminaire provides high quality and affordable commercial lighting. The backlit design with removable LED modules for field serviceability enables easy upgrades, increasing the return on the initial fixture investment.

The design of UCLA's WIN-GEM Building and Engineering VI was recently awarded to BNIM + MRY Architects with Research Facilities Design (RFD) as the laboratory design consultant. The project involves the phased design and construction of a 130,000-gsf engineering complex. The facility will house research laboratories for the School’s Western Institute of Nanoelectronics (WIN) and Green Engineering and Metrology (GEM) programs.

National Cheng Kung University inaugurated the Y. S. Sun Green Building Research Center in January of 2011 on the Lis-Hsing campus in Tainan, Taiwan. Housing the Magic School of Green Technology, the zero-carbon facility is expected to attain LEED Platinum sustainable design certification and receive the highest rating from Taiwan's Ecology, Energy Saving, and Waste Reduction initiative. The 4,800-sm building includes three levels above ground and one underground floor.

Tonopah Solar Energy, a subsidiary of SolarReserve, will begin construction in mid-2011 on a $850 million solar power plant in Nye County, Nevada. Sited on 2,250 acres of public land, the 110 megawatt Crescent Dunes Solar Energy Project will use fields of mirrors called heliostats to focus sunlight on a receiver tower, heating a transfer fluid used to generate steam. The facility will generate enough electricity to power 75,000 households. SolarReserve is based in Santa Monica, Calif.

Texas A&M University will begin construction in late 2011 on the Urban Living Laboratory in Dallas. The mixed-use development will provide a living laboratory for sustainable design with residential, retail, office, and hotel space. The $127 million project will utilize sensors to collect data on building systems and technologies. The public-private development will be built by Realty Appreciation. The first phase of construction includes 300 apartment units. Subsequent construction phases will create a 1.1 million-sf sustainable community. 

The University of Wisconsin broke ground on the $75.7 million Wisconsin Energy Institute in Madison in November of 2010. The 200,000-sf facility was designed by HOK and Potter Lawson with M.A. Mortenson as general contractor. The sustainably designed building will house labs, offices, high bay space, and conference rooms for clean energy research and development. A second phase of construction will provide classrooms, a demonstration lab, and offices.

The European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI) has launched a €1.2 billion initiative to develop wind, solar, and nuclear power in the European Union. The WindScanner research facility in Denmark will cost between €45 million and €60 million to build. The €960 million MYRRHA nuclear research reactor will be sited in Belgium. The €80 million EU-SOLARIS facility will be built at the Advanced Technological Centre for Renewable Energy in Spain.

The first phase of the Biorenewables Complex was recently constructed at Iowa State University, further establishing ISU’s reputation as a leader in agricultural and engineering research. The 72,000-sf building for the Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering has 24,000 sf of large, open/flexible research and teaching laboratory space for biochemistry and microbiology. The facility has been nominated for LEED Gold certification.

New Earth Solutions initiated construction in November of 2010 on a £25 million mechanical biological treatment facility in Avonmouth in the United Kingdom. The general contractor for the project is Dean & Dyball Civil Engineering (DDCE), a division of Balfour Beatty Regional Civil Engineering. The plant will utilize pyrolysis and gasification technology to treat up to 200,000 tons of waste annually and create biomass-rich fuel as a renewable energy resource.

Neste Oil opened a €550 million renewable diesel plant in Singapore in November of 2010. The facility has a capacity of 800,000 tons annually and is the largest of its kind worldwide. The plant produces NExBTL biological diesel from animal fats and palm oil. Neste Oil is headquartered in Finland.

GE International will begin construction in mid-2011 on a $100 million energy research center on the Ilha do Bom Jesus peninsula in Brazil. The 140,000-sf facility will provide R&D labs for the creation of wind and renewable energy products and solutions. Completion is expected in late 2012.