The Research Support Facility on the campus of the U.S. Dept. of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory in Golden, Colo., was recently certified LEED Platinum for New Construction by the U.S. Green Building Council.
At 222,000 sq ft, the RSF leverages energy efficiency and environmental performance in a large-scale commercial office building. With 19% of the energy in the United States consumed by commercial buildings, a DOE goal for the RSF project is to help change the way commercial office buildings are designed and built in the United States. NREL researchers are monitoring and documenting the energy performance of the RSF and sharing those results with industry to show how achievable ultra-energy-efficient buildings are today.