Montgomery, Alabama

This facility features the following green attributes:
Green Power
Water Management Plan
Native Landscaping

National Air and Radiation Environmental Laboratory (NAREL)

Total Facility Area: 71,656 gross square feet (GSF)
Estimated Personnel: 55 persons
Energy Consumption: 12,229,801,280 Btu per year
Btu per GSF per Year: 170,674
Total Water Consumption: 4,639,350 gallons per year
Gallons per GSF per Year: 64.7

All energy and water data are reported as of FY 2010.

Description

Located on Maxwell Air Force Base, the Montgomery laboratory provides radiological monitoring data to support rulemaking and radiological emergency response activities. The Environmental Radiation Ambient Monitoring System (ERAMS) is the only nationwide environmental radiation monitoring network in the United States. NAREL also supports Superfund and enforcement activities with laboratory and field measurements and technical assistance for radioactive and hazardous chemical (mixed waste) contaminants. The facility includes a state-of-the-art radioanalytical laboratory and office space.

Awards

Jonathan Aplin received a fiscal year (FY) 2010 H₂Overachiever Award for helping to achieve water intensity savings of 6 percent at the laboratory in FY 2010 compared to FY 2009, due to leadership in implementing many of the projects in the facility’s water management plan. Projects included connecting the air handler condensate recovery system to the cooling tower, fixing an operational issue with the cooling tower, modifying the reverse osmosis system to run only on demand, and installing high-efficiency fixtures.

Unique Environmental Features

Energy Conservation

In FY 2007, EPA upgraded the current facility chiller system to a more efficient system with updated controls.

Solar parking lot lighting fixtures at NAREL.

Green Power

In December 2010, NAREL completed installation of eight 4.5-kilowatt solar lighting fixtures in the facility's back parking lot, illuminating the space and making travel safer after dark. The lights are motion- and light-sensitive. They are able to store the power needed to operate for approximately five days in two 100-amp batteries, and they optimize their electricity use by reducing power to 50 percent when the lot is empty. Collectively, the annual electricity produced and used by these solar lighting fixtures is estimated to be 8,760 kilowatt hours.
EPA offsets 100 percent of the electricity consumption at NAREL with renewable energy certificates (RECs) purchased through the Agency's current blanket green power contract. Learn more about EPA's current and past blanket green power contracts.

Water Conservation

Piping in the air handler condensate recovery system at NAREL.

In October 2010, NAREL installed an air handler condensate recovery system to collect water for the facility's cooling tower, which accounts for 65 percent of the facility's water use. Based on the initial design, the project was projected to help the facility reduce water use by 800,000 gallons annually. Initial data indicate the project could actually save up to 1 million gallons annually.
In June 2010, NAREL completed a water management plan (PDF) (20 pp, 241K, About PDF).
In October 2008, the laboratory completed retrofits of its faucets to install aerators. The retrofitted faucets flow at 0.5 gallons per minute, saving an estimated 14,000 gallons of water per year compared with the standard faucets.
In FY 2008, NAREL improved preventive maintenance procedures on its float-operated switches associated with the scrubber units and vacuum pumps, saving an estimated 500,000 gallons of water per year compared with the previous procedures.
The laboratory has eliminated all forms of single-pass equipment cooling.
No landscape irrigation water is used at the laboratory, as grasses and shrubs are climate-appropriate and survive on natural rainfall.
A new central chiller plant that is more efficient than the previous one came online in 2007.

Other Features

All of the facility's chlorofluorocarbons were replaced by 1998.

For More Information About This Facility

Website: www.epa.gov/narel

Michael Clark (clark.michael@epa.gov)
Maxwell AFB - Gunter Annex
540 South Morris Ave.
Montgomery, AL 36115
Fax: (334) 270-3434