LANL Sustainable Design Guide

Sheila J. Hayter, P.E., National Renewable Energy Laboratory
Brooke Davis, and William H. Jones, P.E., Los Alamos National Laboratory

Objectives:

The objective of the presentation is to introduce those responsible for managing laboratory building design, construction, and operation to a tool intended to ensure sustainable design practices are implemented in new laboratory buildings. The presentation will provide an overview of sustainable design practices for laboratory buildings and campus planning, using the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) Sustainable Design Guide as an example of the approach LANL has taken to implement such practices. The overview will also address the motivation behind creating such a document and how LANL has incorporated the Guide into its project management processes.

The purpose of the LANL Sustainable Design Guide is to set forth a specific planning and design process for; creating and meeting LANL sustainability goals, including energy reduction, indoor environmental quality, water quality, and site preservation; guide the planners, designers, contractors, and groups responsible for the physical development of the laboratory; provide a tangible process for evaluating progress toward sustainability in the long-range physical development of the Laboratory; and provide leadership to the DOE laboratory system, as well as to the nation, for maintaining energy security and economic growth through sustainable design principles and practices.

Findings:

Guidance regarding the "how-to" in implementing building sustainability goals for a campus containing primarily laboratory facilities will be presented. This guidance includes strategies to design, construct, commission, and operate buildings and direction for meeting sustainable architectural and engineering design goals. Specific strategies will be discussed and illustrated with simulated results and photos. Case studies of building projects that have successfully incorporated the sustainable design strategies discussed will also be presented. These case studies will include monitored performance data to show the impact of these strategies.

Labs21 Connection:

This presentation addresses the Labs21 Approach aspects to minimize overall environmental impacts, optimize whole-building efficiency, and establish goals, track performance, and share results for continuous improvement. Recommendations for how to achieve an integrated laboratory building design that reduces energy and water consumption and the associated emissions and effluents are the focus of the presentation. Guidance to be presented includes site planning and sustainable landscape design, advanced, energy-efficient HVAC technologies and systems, use of "green" materials, low-impact construction practices, and efficient building operation. Applying this guidance when planning, designing, constructing, and operating Labs21 buildings will result in environmental showcase laboratories.

Biographies:

Sheila J. Hayter joined the National Renewable Enery Laboratory (NREL) in 1992. Since then, Ms. Hayter has led activities to develop tools and resources for engineers and architects to incorporate energy efficiency and renewable energy strategies into new and retrofit building projects. Ms. Hayter recently led the project to create the Los Alamos National Laboratory Sustainable Design Guide, the first document of its kind for use by a DOE research laboratory. Ms. Hayter has analyzed commercial and residential building energy performance to find strategies for improving this performance and develop computer tools for assisting practitioners in determining strategies to implement in their own building projects. She is also the long time task leader for the Photovoltaics for Buildings activity, a project that researches the technical and non-technical issues of integrating solar-electric systems with buildings. Ms. Hayter writes technical papers, conference papers, and journal articles and gives conference presentations and leads workshops relating to her NREL work. Before joining NREL Ms. Hayter worked as a design engineer for a private engineering/architectural consulting firm. Ms. Hayter actively participates at the society level with the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers and is a registered professional engineer.

Brooke Davis, PE, joined the Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) in 1973. Her present position is a technical staff member in the Site and Project Planning Group where she has been involved in utility analyses and planning, energy management for facilities initiation and development, and project lead for the development of the Los Alamos National Laboratory Sustainable Design Guide.

Ms. Davis has worked at LANL as a project manager for construction projects, a project engineer responsible for design of mechanical systems, a maintenance engineer, and a construction engineer during the development of the LANL accelerator site.

Before joining LANL, Ms. Davis worked for the County Engineer's Office in San Francisco, California as a design engineer. Ms. Davis holds a BS degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California, Davis. She is a registered professional engineer in New Mexico and is a Certified Energy Manager by the Association of Energy Engineers.

William H. Jones, P.E., has been with Los Alamos National Laboratory since 1999. He is presently the Site and Project Planning Group Leader for the Project Management Division. This group is responsible for land use planning, facility strategic planning, campus architecture, project planning and initiation, and preparation of the Laboratory's annual Ten Year Comprehensive Site Plan.

In his career, Mr. Jones has held technical and management positions in electric utility, semiconductor manufacturing, and consulting engineering firms. In the mid-90's he owned his own consulting firm, El Camino Real Engineering, a business primarily focused on power quality improvement for critical manufacturing facilities.

Prior to joining the Laboratory, Mr. Jones was employed by Advanced Micro Devices at their wafer manufacturing facilities in Austin, Texas. At AMD he was the Facilities Engineering Manager for Electrical Power and Control Systems.

From 1980 to 1993 Mr. Jones worked for Public Service Company of New Mexico (PNM). At PNM he held technical management positions that included San Juan Generating Station Engineering Supervisor, Bernalillo Division Manager, and Large/Industrial Market Services Director.

Mr. Jones holds a BS degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Illinois, and an MBA from the University of Colorado. He is a licensed engineer in Colorado, New Mexico, and Texas, and is a certified Project Management Professional by the Project Management Institute.