Research Triangle Park (RTP), North Carolina

This facility features the following green attributes:
LEED-NC 2.1 Silver
Green Power
Native Landscaping

First Environments Early Learning Center

Total Facility Area: 25,400 gross square feet (GSF)
Estimated Personnel: 41 persons
Energy Consumption: 1,670,233,940 Btu per year
Btu per GSF per Year: 65,757
Total Water Consumption: 374,400 gallons per year
Gallons per GSF per year: 14.7

All energy and water data are reported as of FY 2008.

Description

Open since November 2005, the First Environments Early Learning Center (FEELC) at RTP, North Carolina, is a state-of-the art, 25,400-square-foot child care facility. FEELC enables EPA to extend child care services to 188 children and accomodates 41 FEELC staff. The building includes 20 classrooms, a large multipurpose room, a commercial-grade kitchen, infant care rooms, and an outdoor playground.

In addition to this facility, EPA occupies several other buildings in the Research Triangle Park area, including:

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 FEELC, 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.
On November 1, 2004, EPA entered into a three-year agreement with Unicoi Energy Services, to purchase 100 million kWh of green power in the form of RECs annually. The contract helps support the generation of biomass power from paper pulp facilities in Port Wentworth, Georgia. The purchase offsets 100 percent of the electricity consumption at all of EPA's RTP facilities, including the FEELC.

Green Building

In March 2008, the building received the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design for New Construction (LEED®-NC) 2.1 Silver certification.
RTP's First Environments Early Learning Center features the following green building attributes:
- An ENERGY STAR^® roof and high albedo concrete paving, which decreases heat absorption and reduces the amount of energy required for cooling.
- Energy-efficient lighting features such as occupancy sensors and daylighting dimmers.
- Native landscaping that requires no additional watering and reduces pollution from stormwater runoff.
- Locally manufacturered materials.
- Indoor air quality monitoring to ensure a healthy learning environment.

For More Information

Steve VanHorn (vanhorn.steve@epa.gov)
EPA
Mail Code: C604-02
Research Triangle Park, NC 27711
Phone: (919) 541-5446

Web site: www.epa.gov/rtp/childcare/daycare.htm