At the EPA building, we use “natural” daylight—light without electricity—a lot, because it saves energy! When there's not enough sunshine, we use energy-efficient electricity. This conserves resources and saves money.

Atriums

An atrium is a part of a building that's covered by windows and let's you see directly up to the sky.

Sails

These sails (yup, just like a sailboat!) hang from our atrium ceiling. They face south to capture lots of sunlight, driving the light deep into the building.

Special Light-bulb Sensors

These sensors are smart enough to figure out the weather! If it's cloudy, they give off more light. If it's sunny, they give off less light

Occupancy Lights

These lights turn off when they sense that no one is around.

Because of the atriums and sails, 9 out of 10 offices in the whole building have natural light instead of light-bulb light! Through energy-efficient technology, we save $395 dollars every day.