Chicago, Illinois

This facility features the following green attributes:
Green Power

Region 5 Laboratory

Total Facility Area: 62,132 rentable square feet (RSF) (EPA share)
Estimated Personnel: 40 EPA personnel
Energy Consumption: 7,413,405,597 Btu per year (EPA share)
Btu per RSF per Year: 119,317
Water Consumption: 739,529 gallons per year
Gallons per RSF per Year: 11.90

All energy and water data are reported as of FY 2008. EPA's Region 5 Laboratory is a non-reporting facility, which means EPA does not control or report the utilities there.

Description

This GSA-owned building houses the Environmental Services Division for EPA Region 5. Region 5 shares this space with the Department of Agriculture; the Immigration Office; the Army, Navy, and Air Force Recruiting Office; and the U.S. General Services Administration.

The Region 5 Laboratory provides high-quality analytical support for EPA programs, including efforts to regulate hazardous and toxic materials, protect drinking-water supplies, improve air and water quality, and control water pollution from non-point sources in and around the Great Lakes Region.

Unique Environmental Features

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 5 Laboratory, 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 kWh in RECs, or "green tags," from 3 Phases Energy Services over the period if 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 Chicago laboratory 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.

For More Information

Hedrick E. Partee (partee.hedrick@epa.gov)
536 South Clark Street
Chicago, IL 60605
Phone: (312) 353-4190