The National Renewable Energy Laboratory is the Department of Energy’s green tech incubation lab, so perhaps it’s no surprise that the research agency is attempting to lead America to greener pastures by example. The NREL just put the finishing touches on its new Research Support Facility (RSF) in Golden, Colo., — the largest zero-energy office building in the nation — hoping other developers will follow its lead.
The 220,000 square-foot facility will be home to more than 800 employees when it opens its doors in August, and is expected to achieve platinum LEED certification, the highest distinction a building can get from the U.S. Green Building Council. To create a structure that consumes no more energy than it produces in a year, the engineers behind the office complex took into account both the technologies of the future and the building practices of the past.
WATCH THE SCIENCE BEHIND THE BUILDING