Frostburg, MD – R. G. Vanderweil Engineers LLP recently completed the design of a two million dollar new sustainable energy research facility at Frostburg State University, located in Frostburg, MD. The Solar Energy Research Facility (SERF) will become one of the prime locations for national renewable energy research. This is the University’s first Off-Grid, Net Zero, Carbon-Neutral Facility.
Vanderweil collaborated with a local architecture firm in Maryland, the Sustainable Design Group, for the design of this new building. This new SERF building consists of a large multi-purpose hall which will be used for research, instructional sessions, outreach activities, and will remain open to the public for viewing. Within the outdoor showroom, there are numerous examples of renewable energy products that will remain on display. The SERF building was designed to serve as a prime example of a self-sufficient, off-grid, net zero energy facility where the energy being consumed is supplied by renewable energy sources such as the use of wind power and sunlight in the form of electric photovoltaic’s and active solar heating. The building was designed to achieve a LEED® Platinum certification.
Many sustainable design features were incorporated into this building in order to achieve LEED® certification. Some features used to attain this goal were: chilled beam cooling utilizing an open-well geothermal system source, LED lighting with occupancy and daylighting controls, radiant floor heating utilizing PEX piping throughout, photovoltaic’s on the roof and on-site with the building being independent from the electric utility (100% off-grid). The building is also heated primarily by use of sunlight utilizing a passive-solar building design combined with an active evacuated heat-pipe technology solar thermal collector system and a hydrogen fuel cell is provided as a back-up building power
source. Construction of the Sustainable Energy Research Facility was completed in November 2012 and soon thereafter was opened to the University and public.