May 5, 2008—The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) reports that it has achieved a 20.2 percent reduction in total energy use for its National Computer Center (NCC) for FY 2007 compared to FY 2006, far surpassing EPA’s goal of five percent.
In FY 2007, EPA initiated numerous energy saving projects at the NCC facility in Research Triangle Park, NC, including high-efficiency lighting, solar panels, and heating and cooling systems designed to prevent energy waste.
EPA also optimized and diversified the location of energy-intensive equipment to better match heat loads and cooling capacity. EPA anticipates these projects will help reduce NCC’s annual energy consumption by more than nine percent compared to FY 2006 energy use.
Additional eco-friendly features of the facility include: “green” lighting features, including high-efficiency fluorescent lighting, motion sensors, daylight dimming sensors, and manual override switches; energy-efficient heating and cooling systems using variable speed motors, fans, and pumps to meet actual energy demand; outside air economizers; and a building automation system (BAS) that monitors and controls various aspects of the building and works in tandem with the heating and cooling systems.
For more information on how EPA is ”greening” the NCC, visit the Greening Epa/NCC Web site.
