by Brianna Crandall — December 10, 2012—The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announced on December 6 that the Department of the Interior’s (DOI) Brackish Groundwater National Desalination Research Facility (BGNDRF) in Alamogordo, New Mexico, is the winner of the 2012 Better Buildings Federal Award. This competition challenges agencies to achieve the greatest reduction in annual energy intensity, or energy consumed per gross square foot. According to DOE, this year’s winner reduced its energy use by an incredible 53.6% since September 2011, representing a 232 Btu per gross square foot reduction in energy intensity.
The Brackish Groundwater National Desalination Research Facility , which opened for research in 2007, consists of office space, a conference room, a laboratory, indoor test bays, a technician shop, and a variety of other rooms. After a comprehensive energy use analysis in 2011, BGNDRF facilities operators altered the building’s heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) control settings and adjusted landscape lighting durations, 24-hour lighting, and indoor night lighting to minimize energy use during unoccupied hours. Steve Holland, BGNDRF’s electronic technician, coordinated the work across the facility resulting in a conservatively estimated 247,000 kWh compared with the prior year.
Eight finalists competed in this year’s race to reduce their building’s fiscal year 2012 energy intensity. When selecting finalists, the Energy Department’s Federal Energy Management Program (FEMP) considered energy efficiency measures deployed in each facility and best practices in energy management and building operations undertaken by facilities personnel, as well as organizational programs and tools to encourage broad sustainability efforts.
The eight other 2012 finalists and their energy reduction results are:
- Department of the Army: Boatwright Maintenance Park Building 2770 (-43.8%)
- General Services Administration: Neal Smith Federal Building (-35.7%)
- Department of Energy: Sandia National Laboratories Building 753 (-18.7%)
- General Services Administration: Frank Carlson Federal Building & Courthouse (-15.1%)
- Department of the Treasury: Bureau of Public Debt Avery Street Building (+18.1%)
- Department of Defense: Army & Air Force Exchange Service (-20.2%) (incomplete data)
- General Services Administration: Sam Nunn Atlanta Federal Center (-20.2%) (incomplete data)
The Energy Department also announced the 12 finalists that will be competing in the 2013 Better Buildings Federal Award competition. From now until August 30, 2013, the selected finalists will participate in a head-to-head competition to achieve the greatest reduction in energy intensity.
The following facilities will compete in the 2013 competition:
Department of the Army
- B65 Picatinny Arsenal, Picatinny Arsenal, NJ
- Bldg. 1506 White Sands Missile Range, White Sands, NM
General Services Administration
- Richard Bolling Federal Building, Kansas City, MO
- Wichita U.S. Courthouse, Wichita, KS
- Charles Evans Whittaker Courthouse, Kansas City, MO
- Robert V. Denney Federal Building and Courthouse, Omaha, NE
- FDA Wiley Federal Building, College Park, MD
Department of the Air Force
- Tinker Air Force Base Bldg. 3333, Tinker AFB, OK
- Goodfellow Air Force Base Bldg. 3323, Goodfellow AFB, TX
- Hartinger Building—HQ AF Space Command Bldg. 1, Peterson AFB, CO
Department of State
- Columbia Plaza, Washington, DC
Department of Energy
- Argonne Information Center Bldg. 224, Argonne, IL
For more information on the 2012 or 2013 finalists and to track the progress of the 2013 competition, visit the FEMP Better Buildings Federal Award Web page. To learn more about the services, tools, and expertise DOE provides to federal agencies to help them achieve their energy management goals, visit the FEMP Web site.
