GENERAL CONTRACTING | SOUTH
OAK RIDGE NATIONAL LABORATORY THE SCIENCE OF CONSTRUCTION
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by Kevin Porter
f you’ve ever held the notion that research is conducted by scientists who exist in isolation, tediously poring over data, you might be only partially correct. While scientists at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tenn. certainly take their research seriously, they exist among a community of nearly 5,000 researchers – like a colony of worker ants laboring toward the common goal of feeding humankind’s incessant appetite for knowledge and innovation. With its recent construction of the MAXLAB and the Carbon Fiber Technology Facility (CFTF) , Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) is poised to advance research in energy savings and consumption as well as in the development and commercialization of low-cost carbon fiber technology. Founded in 1943, Oak Ridge National Laboratory focuses its research efforts in energy, life sciences, neutron sciences and advanced materials – all the while launching new studies in areas like national security and high-performance computing. ORNL is situated in a complex containing 16 other multipurpose labs and is managed by UT-Battelle, a limited liability partnership between the University of Tennessee and the Battelle Memorial Institute formed in 2000. Its primary purpose was to establish a not-for-profit company to manage and operate ORNL for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and to deliver DOE’s research mission. Recently UT-Battelle performed a modernization of ORNL facilities which included the construction of two new labs. “UT-Battelle made infrastructure changes to create a very modern campus with several brand new buildings,” said Martin Keller, a microbiologist and associate lab director for the Energy and Environmental Sciences Directorate who has been with ORNL for nearly seven years. “ORNL is now one of the most modern labs in the complex.” One of those brand new facilities is MAXLAB, short for the Maximum Energy Efficiency Research Lab. Its purpose is to accelerate research on energy savings in residential homes and buildings, building equipment, building envelopes and building controls to help advance the study of energy consumption. Johney Green is director of Energy and Transportation Science at MAXLAB. In his 18-year tenure at ORNL he has seen the gradual advancement of technology, and through his research, hopes to speed-up the process. “We want to accelerate the development and deployment of technologies to move toward a carbon neutral building,” Green said. “We have a longstanding building research program through the Building Technologies Research and Integration facility. MAXLAB is a facility to expand upon that.” The construction of MAXLAB was completed via a $20 million award from DOE. To make the most efficient use of those funds, project planners allocated $5 million for investment into existing research facilities while the remaining $15 million was devoted to construction of the new lab. In order to determine how the general contractor would be chosen, planners used a “best value” approach to identify technical qualifications. With a general contractor on board, the decision was made to reduce the number of offices in the new facility in order to maximize research space. “We had to find the right balance between research needs and staffing,” said Green. The planned “open office” design would encourage collaboration and information sharing among the facility’s 70 researchers. Key to the functionality of the lab would be its flexible research platforms. At 5,000 sq.ft. each, the platforms would allow researchers to model and simulate one and two-story buildings in order to study energy consumption, HVAC, building envelope and roofing technologies, and air penetration issues. Solutions would be applicable to all climates throughout the U.S. After nearly 15 months of construction, the 20,000 sq.ft. facility was completed in June 2012 and scientists took occupancy later in September. However, construction of MAXLAB was not all smooth sailing. In Aug 2011, Hurricane Irene complicated the process after floods caused damage to the inventory of the project’s window supplier. Nevertheless crews were able to finish ahead of schedule, Green said. Consistent with MAXLAB’s mission to accelerate research in energy savings and consumption are the sustainable concepts incorporated into its construction that led to a LEED Gold certification. Among those are the usage of 200 percent recycled content, day lighting, exterior solar shades, low flow fixtures to reduce water consumption by 40 percent, low emitting paints and woods, HVAC controls as well as air quality management. Located just five miles off the ORNL campus is the laboratory’s other recently constructed edifice, the Carbon Fiber Technology Facility (CFTF) headed-up by CFTF Director Lee McGetrick. “The purpose of the lab is to prove the scalability of research that the lab has been involved in for over a decade and to prove that carbon fibers can be made at a lower cost using
advanced manufacturing processes that are not available on the market today,” McGetrick said. “The endgame is the commercialization of low cost carbon fiber to replace steel. To date the widespread use of carbon fiber composites in many industrial applications has been cost prohibitive.” Although the CFTF is new construction, tailor-made for its specific functions, the custom-designed carbon fiber production process is housed in a leased facility. “The building shell, utilities and services are all part of a lease agreement between UT-Battelle and the landlord for the building,” said McGetrick. Construction broke ground in March 2011, contracts for design and fabrication of interior equipment were awarded, and eight short months later in Nov. 2011 the 42,000 sq.ft. facility was occupied. The new structure included floor loading accommodations for heavy equipment as well as power. Research at the newly completed CFTF is not an open-ended experiment. There is a timeline by which researchers hope to reach certain goals in their study and development of carbon fiber technology. “Over the next three to five years we have a few projects planned to commercialize those technologies. It involves making carbon fiber from lower cost precursor material,” said McGetrick, who forecasts usage of the new facility in this capacity to be for the next five to 10 years. “We do see an end point at which all this research has been proven. We sized it [the facility] with the five to 10-year mission in mind.” That being said, McGetrick admits that things don’t always go according to plan. “It’s hard to predict when you’re going to make that big discovery or breakthrough.” Still, the journey of discovery is an exciting ride that McGetrick appreciates. “Having the opportunity to be a part of a project that truly has the potential to impact our economy and create a large number of jobs is just a really great feeling.” A similar sentiment is shared by Associate Lab Director Martin Keller who anticipates the impact of ORNL’s work in the years to come. “The research will enable our children to have the same opportunities that we have. And we can make this country a little bit better.”
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