Atlanta, Georgia

This facility features the following green attributes:
Green Power
ENERGY STAR

Region 4 Office

Total Facility Area: 330,693 rentable square feet (EPA share)
Estimated Personnel: 1,125 EPA personnel
Energy Consumption: 24,212,812,213 Btu per year (EPA share)
Btu per Rentable Square Foot per Year: 73,218
Water Consumption: not available

All energy and water data are reported as of FY 2005.

Description

EPA's Region 4 serves Georgia, Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida. The Sam Nunn Atlanta Federal Center (SNAFC), where Region 4 is housed, is one of the largest federal buildings in the country. The EPA Region 4 office is the building's largest tenant.

Unique Environmental Features

Energy Conservation

As a result of a major re-commissioning effort initiated in 2003, SNAFC received an ENERGY STAR^® building label in April 2005. The ENERGY STAR label is awarded to buildings whose energy performance rates in the top 25 percent of facilities in a particular sector. EPA, in partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA), initiated the re-commissioning effort, which reduced cooling loads, increased efficiency of the facility's central plant, and reduced energy consumption by 12 percent, when compared to FY 2003 energy use. Learn more about the ENERGY STAR label for SNAFC.
On October 28, 2004, EPA's Region 4 Office, in partnership with DOE and GSA, received a Federal Energy Efficiency/Energy Program Management Award for initiating the re-commissioning effort described above. Analysis of the building's energy use led to ongoing metering and evaluation initiatives, pilot projects for motion sensor installation, occupant-focused energy awareness programs, and building systems re-commissioning.
In conjunction with GSA, EPA initiated a pilot project in 2002 on the 15th floor to install and monitor the results of occupancy sensors in all spaces and occupancy-controlled, multi-plug surge outlets in workstations and offices. Using sub-meters EPA had installed in the space, baseline data were compared with energy use data from before and after the occupancy sensors and new surge outlets were installed. The study concluded that if plugload power management was installed throughout this EPA office, a reduction of 122,667 kilowatt hours (kWh) per year would be realized (or 123 kWh per person per year).

Green Power

In FY 2008, EPA continued to support the renewable energy market by purchasing more than 212 million kilowatt hours (kWh) of green power through two separate Agencywide blanket contracts for renewable energy certificates (RECs), or “green tags,” from Sterling Planet, Luminant Energy Company, and FPL Energy . These purchases allowed EPA to offset 100 percent of electricity consumption for FY 2008 at the Region 4 Office, as well as many other EPA facilities across the Agency. Procured through the Defense Energy Support Center, these contracts support renewable energy generation from wind, biomass, and landfill gas resources in nine states.
In June 2006, EPA signed a contract to acquire 110 million kilowatt hours (kWh) in renewable energy certificates (RECs), or "green tags," from 3 Phases Energy Services over the period September 1, 2006 through September 30, 2007. This blanket purchase supplied EPA with enough RECs through FY 2007 to offset 100 percent of annual electricity consumption at the Region 4 Office and other EPA facilities not covered by separate green power contracts. Procured through the Defense Energy Support Center , this contract supported wind power generation in California, Oklahoma, South Dakota, and Wyoming.
In March 2004, EPA entered into a three-year contract (procured by the Defense Energy Support Center), with 3 Phases Energy Services, to purchase 7 million kWh of green power annually in the form of RECs. This contract supports the generation of renewable energy from landfill gas plants in Kentucky and North Carolina.

Green Building

As of FY 2008, GSA is pursuing LEED-EB for SNAFC. EPA Region 4, the building's largest tenant, is assisting GSA with this process. Some green activities that have been or will be incorporated into the facility to help earn the certification include de-lamping some areas, installing occupancy sensors for lights, installing recycled-content carpet, using low-VOC paint, incorporating green cleaning (via contracts), adding additional bicycle racks, and using recycled glass for landscaping.

Stormwater Management

SNAFC has incorporated an urban forest on its campus to help filter pollutants, absorb water, and enhance ground-water recharge. See Stormwater Management at EPA Facilities for more information.

Contact

Gary White (white.gary@epa.gov)
61 Forsyth Street, SW
Atlanta, GA 30303-8960
Phone: (404) 562-8157

Web site: www.epa.gov/region4