Energy Efficiency in California Laboratory-Type Facilities

** Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, In-House Energy Management Section, MS 90G, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA

*** Efficient Energy Systems, Inc., 128 S. Helberta, #4, Redondo Beach, CA, 90277, USA

**** Marton Associates, 1129 Keith Avenue, Berkeley, CA 94708, USA

***** University of Coimbra, Department of Electrical Engineering, L. Marques de Pombal, 3000 Coimbra, Portugal

****** Lee Eng Lock, Supersymmetry Services Pte Ltd, Block 73, Ayer Rajah Crescent, #07-06/09, 05132 Singapore

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This publication, and its companion document "A Design Guide for Energy-Efficient Research Laboratories", was produced by the Applications Team at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory's Center for Building Science. Uniting the resources of LBNL's research programs and the In-House Energy Management Section, the Applications Team supports the deployment of advanced energy-efficient and environmentally friendly technologies in new and existing buildings. It offers expertise in state-of-the-art technologies, design, financial analysis, and project management, guided by an integrated building lifecycle approach that includes audits, design, construction, commissioning, measurement and verification, and ongoing operations and maintenance.

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The research reported here was funded by the California Institute for Energy Efficiency (CIEE), a research unit of the University of California, through the U.S. Department of Energy Contract No. DE-AC03-76SF00098. Publication of research results does not imply CIEE endorsement of or agreement with these findings, nor that of any CIEE sponsor. We thank our Project Manager, Karl Brown, and Ashok Gadgil, Peter Rumsey, and Charlie Huizenga for comments on the draft report. Victor Newman, Doug Lockhart, John Bunnell, Mike Sullivan, Wendell Brase, Rebecca Gladson, Larry Givens, and Len Pettis provided useful comments on the Design Guide.

I. SUMMARY

II. Introduction

Project Overview

Research versus Production Laboratories

California Laboratory-Type Facilities in Context

III. Energy Use and Savings Potential in California Laboratory-Type Facilities

Data Availability

Statewide Laboratory Energy Use

Statewide Laboratory Energy Savings Potential

Building Stock Retirement and Retrofit Potential

Results for Specific Sectors and Fuels

IV. Detailed Sub-Sector Assessments

Cleanrooms

Cleanrooms in Manufacturing Settings

Cleanrooms in Hospitals

Cleanroom Statistics for California

Cleanroom Design, Energy Use, and Efficiency Potential

University-Based Laboratory Facilities

National Laboratories

V. The Design of Energy-Efficient Laboratory-Type Facilities

Overview of Design Principles

Barriers to Energy-Efficiency in Laboratory-Type Facilities

Advanced Design Strategies

Integrated Energy Design: The Example of Cleanrooms

VI. A Design Guide for Energy-Efficient Research Laboratories

Endnotes

VII. Research Agenda

Appendix A. Energy Use in California Laboratory-Type Facilities

Appendix B. Energy Efficiency Potential in California Cleanrooms

Appendix C. Derivation of University of California Laboratory Energy Use Estimates

Appendix D. Structure of "A Design Guide for Energy Efficient Research Laboratories"

I. SUMMARY

Figure 1

Due to demanding environmental control requirements and specialized processes, laboratory-type facilities epitomize the important intersection between energy demand in the buildings sector and in the industrial sector. Moreover, given the high importance and value of the activities conducted in laboratory-type facilities, they represent one of the most powerful contexts in which energy efficiency improvements stand to yield abundant non-energy benefits if properly applied.

The main findings of this study are as follows:

Energy Use and Savings Potential

• Laboratory-type buildings represent 51 million square feet of floor area in California.
• Energy intensities are four- to five-times higher than those found in ordinary (non-laboratory) buildings, such as offices. In the case of cleanrooms, intensities are 10-100 times higher, depending on the cleanliness classification.
• In end-user categories representing Standard Industrial Codes (SIC) 2700-8734 (253 categories), laboratory-type energy use represents 35% of total energy (38% of total electricity and 27% of total natural gas). In the absence of energy-efficiency improvements, these shares are projected to grow to 40%, 43%, and 29%, respectively, by the year 2015. The most important segments are cleanrooms, healthcare, universities, and national laboratories.
• In the above-mentioned SIC user categories, primary laboratory energy use in California 1993 was 111 x 1012 BTUs (TBTU), including 8.8 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity (2100 megawatts) and 21 TBTUs of natural gas. In the absence of energy-efficiency improvements, projected growth is 131% (3.9%/year) to the year 2015.
• The corresponding energy cost in 1993 was $700 million annually, growing to $1,640 million by the year 2015.
• Based on our estimate of an overall savings potential of 50% in new and existing buildings, savings by the year 2015 (compared to a frozen-efficiency baseline) amount to 128 TBTUs, valued at $820 million/year, including 10.4 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity (2500 megawatts) and 21 TBTUs of natural gas.

• In this project, we identify a variety of barriers to energy-efficiency in laboratory-type facilities.
• We articulate an integrated design philosophy for optimizing energy-efficiency in laboratory-type facilities, and identify some key leading-edge technologies and strategies for capturing energy savings and overcoming barriers.
• We present a separate report entitled A Design Guide for Energy Efficient Research Laboratories. This document provides a detailed and holistic framework to assist designers and energy managers in identifying and applying advanced energy-efficiency features in laboratory-type environments. The Guide fills an important void in the general literature and compliments existing in-depth technical manuals. Considerable information is available pertaining to overall laboratory design issues, but no single document focuses comprehensively on energy issues in these highly specialized environments. Furthermore, practitioners may utilize antiquated rules of thumb, which often inadvertently cause energy inefficiency. The Guide helps the user to introduce energy decision-making into the earliest phases of the design process and facilitates access to the literature on pertinent issues and awareness of debates and issues on topics. The Guide focuses on individual technologies, as well as control systems, and important operational factors such as building commissioning. Most importantly, the Guide is designed to foster a systems perspective (e.g. "right sizing") and to present current leading-edge design practices and principles.

• We identify new ways to secure energy savings in laboratory-type facilities while simultaneously offering measurable improvements in the quality and non-energy performance of those facilities.
• We identify five major avenues of research that would serve to improve energy efficiency in California Laboratory-Type Facilities. These include: (1) Technology R&D; (2) Technology Transfer; (3) Additional Design Guide Development; (4) Design Guide Validation; and (5) Field Assessment of Additional Opportunities.
• We group the specific recommended research activities into three key (and complementary) areas: (1) Design Processes and Energy Data Diagnostics; (2) Technology and Systems Integration; and (3) Indoor Environmental Management and Control Strategies.