Grosse Ile, Michigan

Photo of the Large Lakes and Rivers Research Building

This facility features the following green attributes:

Meets Guiding Principles
Green Power
Water Management Plan
Native Landscaping

Large Lakes Research Station

Total Facility Area: 32,477 gross square feet (GSF)
Estimated Personnel: 45 persons

FY 2003 Energy Consumption*: 9,586,829,376 Btu per year
FY 2003 Btu per GSF per Year: 295,188
FY 2012 Energy Consumption: 5,290,959,600 Btu per year
FY 2012 Btu per GSF per Year: 162,914; 44.8 percent reduction from the baseline

FY 2007 Water Consumption**: 458,000 gallons per year
FY 2007 Gallons per GSF per Year: 14.1
FY 2012 Water Consumption: 105,000 gallons per year
FY 2012 Gallons per GSF per Year: 3.2; 77.1 percent reduction from the baseline

All energy and water data are reported as of FY 2012.
*FY 2003 is the standard baseline year used by the federal government to measure energy conservation progress.
**FY 2007 is the standard baseline year used by the federal government to measure water conservation progress.

Description

The Large Lakes Research Station in Grosse Ile, Michigan, is part of EPA's Mid-Continent Ecology Division (MED) in Duluth, Minnesota, and operates under the Office of Research and Development (ORD). The laboratory consists of several buildings on the former Grosse Ile Naval Air Station that were repurposed to serve EPA's research needs. The mission of the Large Lakes Research Station is to develop methods to predict and assess the effects of pollutants and polluting activities on freshwater ecological resources.

Unique Environmental Features

Federal High-Performing Sustainable Building

In November 2012, the Large Lakes Research Station was certified as meeting the Guiding Principles for Sustainable Existing Buildings requirements (December 2008 version) and became EPA's first existing building to meet the Guiding Principles for Federal Leadership in High Performance and Sustainable Buildings (Guiding Principles). To learn more about how the Large Lakes Research Station met the Guiding Principles, please read EPA's strategies for transforming existing buildings into high-performing sustainable buildings.
In July 2010, EPA conducted an onsite sustainability assessment of the Large Lakes Research Station's progress toward implementing the Guiding Principles and identified opportunities for improvement.
EPA developed a facility-specific, comprehensive Building Management Plan that serves as a reference on sustainable facility operations at the Large Lakes Research Station.
The Large Lakes Research Station also met a rigorous set of sustainability targets and goals through this certification process, which included reducing energy use by more than 20 percent from its fiscal year (FY) 2003 baseline, recommissioning the facility and its system components, testing to ensure good indoor environmental quality, and adopting policies for green cleaning, integrated pest management, and sustainable purchasing.

Many of the improvements discussed in the sections that follow were completed as part of the Guiding Principles certification process.

Energy Conservation

In November 2012, EPA completed the development of a mechanical, electrical, and plumbing systems operations and maintenance plan to document existing building systems, optimal maintenance procedures, and best management practices to efficiently operate the facility's major energy-consuming systems.
In November 2011, EPA worked with contractors to recommission the building and its system components to maximize energy efficiency and ensure thermal comfort and adequate ventilation.
In 2008, two steam boilers were installed to replace the original boilers that were more than 35 years old.

Water Conservation

The facility replaced existing restroom fixtures with water-efficient alternatives in April 2012, saving more than 150,000 gallons of water per year. The facility also retrofitted lavatory faucets to flow at 0.5 gallons per minute (gpm) and decommissioned a single-pass cooling air conditioner in FY 2011.
In October 2011, the Large Lakes Research Station revised its water management plan (PDF) (18 pp, 349K, About PDF).
The facility uses minimal landscape irrigation water. Across most of the three-acre site, grasses and shrubs are climate-suitable and survive on natural rainfall. Hand watering is limited and only applied to plants during dry conditions.

Green Power

EPA offsets 100 percent of the electricity consumption at the Large Lakes Research Station with renewable energy certificates (RECs) purchased through the Agency's current blanket green power contract. Learn more about EPA's blanket green power contracts.

One of the rain barrels at the Large Lakes Research Station.

Stormwater Management

EPA commissioned a survey of the existing stormwater management systems at the Large Lakes Research Station. Next, it produced a study containing several options for improved stormwater management via low-impact development projects that promote water reuse, onsite infiltration, and onsite quantity control. The study was completed in July 2012.
Following the study, EPA completed Phase I of the final stormwater management study in November 2012, which included the installation of roof gutters, three 500-gallon rain barrels, and one 300-gallon rain barrel to collect rainfall from building roofs. Stormwater runoff from the roofs is collected from the gutters and channeled to screens designed to separate debris from the rain water prior to entering the first flush diverter. The first flush diverter captures the initial runoff from the roofs that may contain contaminants prior to the stormwater running into the storage tanks. Water from the tank is pumped by a pressure-activated submersible pump to a water faucet and used for spot irrigation in particularly dry weather.
A stormwater management maintenance plan was developed to document routine maintenance practices for the stormwater infrastructure at the facility.

For More Information About This Facility

Website: www.epa.gov/med/grosseile_site/index.html

John Filkins (filkins.john@epa.gov)
U.S. EPA
Large Lakes Research Station
9311 Groh Road
Grosse Ile, MI 48138
Phone: (734) 692-7600