Energy

The Energy Systems Integration Facility (ESIF) at the Energy Department’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory uses hardware-in-the-loop prototyping at the low- to mega-watt-scale power capability to develop and validate the next generation of energy production and infrastructure, giving NREL and its strategic industry partners the opportunity to evaluate how technologies will work together in a real-world environment. The primary focus of ESIF is micro grid/smart grid research. The building houses 200 scientists and engineers in a private, public-sector, and academic partnership.

The University of Notre Dame is planning to build the $36 million Turbomachinery Facility in collaboration with General Electric, Indiana Michigan Power, and other industry partners in South Bend, Ind. Supporting the development of advanced gas turbine engine technologies, the 43,000-sf research and testing center will feature full-scale simulated operating environments including a $7.5 million, 10-megawatt jet propulsion engine rig.

Idaho National Lab dedicated the Energy Innovation Laboratory in April of 2014. Located on the Idaho Falls Research and Education Campus, the 148,000-sf facility features reconfigurable laboratories for research on clean energy, advanced materials, nuclear science, and electrical grid management. The three-story project will support collaboration with industry partners and includes a conference center. Idaho National Lab is funded by the Department of Energy (DOE) and is managed by Battelle Energy Alliance.

San Juan College is constructing a 65,000-sf facility for the School of Energy in Farmington, N.M. The $15 million building will provide specialized laboratories for the study of oil and gas production technologies as well as classrooms and offices. The team for the design/build project includes architectural firm Dekker/Perich/Sabatini and general contractor Jaynes Corporation. Groundbreaking was celebrated in fall of 2013 and completion is expected in May of 2015.

An evidence-based approach to designing and analyzing research laboratories—one that focuses on practical and interrelated reductions in energy use—offers long-term cost benefits that trump popular but often-underperforming symbolic gestures. Traditional thinking suggests that sustainable construction of research labs, which are among the most energy-intensive facilities in the world, costs many times more than the non-green alternative. Not so, say the designers at Payette, a Boston architectural firm.

The Energy Innovation Center (EIC) at the University of Wyoming—designed for the UW School of Energy Resources (SER), the Enhanced Oil Recovery Institute (EORI), and the Institute’s nine centers of excellence—focuses on such critical issues as enhanced oil recovery, carbon management, and advanced coal technology. 

The Sir Samuel Griffith Centre at Griffith University in Brisbane, Australia, is the embodiment of a living laboratory. The project, funded through the Australian government’s Education Investment Fund, delivers the world’s first large-scale, zero-emission research and teaching facility that utilizes solar power and energy storage as hydrogen.

Washington State University broke ground in March of 2014 on the $52.8 million PACCAR Clean Technology Laboratory Building in Pullman. Supporting research on advanced materials, renewable energy, atmospheric science, and hydrology, the 96,000-sf interdisciplinary facility will provide specialized core labs, common support areas, offices, faculty and student research space, and conference areas. The project team includes LMN Architects, general contractor Skanska, and laboratory design consultant Research Facilities Design.

The Wisconsin Energy Institute (WEI), at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, brings together researchers from multiple disciplines to collaborate on solving the world’s energy needs. Occupied in January 2013, the five-story, 102,000-gsf building is designed to flex and adapt to evolving directions in clean-energy research.

The Phase II renovation of Michigan Memorial Phoenix Laboratory (MMPL)—located in a three-story, Cold-War-era facility—contains more than 3,000 sf of chemistry wet lab space, plus a 10,161-sf addition housing the University of Michigan Energy Institute (UMEI, formerly called the Michigan Memorial Phoenix Energy Institute). The UMEI, previously housed in temporary administrative offices, develops, coordinates, and promotes multidisciplinary energy research and education at the University.

The mission of the award-winning Campus for Research Excellence and Technology (CREATE) in Singapore is to stimulate innovation, discovery, and entrepreneurship through the interaction and collaboration of a broad spectrum of scientists and engineers representing world-class research universities, institutions, and corporations.

Interdisciplinary research groups (IRGs) from around the world will be co-located for five years at a time, coalescing around five research themes:

Michigan State University broke ground in spring of 2014 on the $730 million Facility for Rare Isotope Beams. Located in East Lansing, the project will be a national user facility for nuclear science research and is created in partnership with the Department of Energy. The first $165 million phase of construction includes a 227,000-sf building with extensive underground infrastructure to accommodate a superconducting linear accelerator. Completion is expected in 2018.

The Energy Biosciences Building at the University of California, Berkeley, is a facility for the Energy Biosciences Institute (EBI), a 10-year, $500 million program created to address challenges in climate change and the rising price and diminishing supplies of carbon-based fossil fuels by applying the advanced knowledge of biological processes, materials, and mechanisms.

The Energy Production Infrastructure Center (EPIC) at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte, brings together the traditional disciplines of civil, environmental, computer, and electrical engineering in a collaborative, innovative research and teaching community. Activities are focused on the development of energy and power production, from microchip fabrication and development of new structural materials to solar and wind power.

The Department of Energy will begin construction in April of 2014 on a $10 million research facility at Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Wash. The project will be designed and built by DGR Grant Construction in collaboration with Meier Architecture & Engineering. The 22,000-sf facility will provide labs, computational space, and offices to support research on power grid dynamics and renewable energy technologies, as well as housing PNNL's Building Operations Control Center and sustainability program.