Kansas City, Kansas
Science and Technology Center

Exterior picture of the Kansas City Science and Technology Center.

This facility features the following green attributes:
LEED 2.0 Gold
Green Power
Native Landscaping

Region 7 Laboratory

Total Facility Area: 71,955 gross square feet (GSF)
Estimated Personnel: 110 persons
Energy Consumption: 19,543,259,800 Btu per year
Btu per GSF per Year: 271,604
Total Water Consumption: 3,152,291 gallons per year
Gallons per GSF per Year: 44

All energy and water data are reported as of FY 2007.

Description

The 20-year lease for this build-to-suit facility was awarded as a design-build contract in August 2000. Initial modeling predicted the laboratory would use approximately 270,000 Btu per gross square foot per year. The facility officially opened on May 9, 2003, and is performing more efficiently than expected, using six percent less energy than predicted.

On October 28, 2004, EPA's Kansas City Science and Technology Center was designated as a Department of Energy (DOE) Federal Energy Saver Showcase Facility. Developed on a former brownfield site, the facility was constructed to preserve natural resources, ensure occupancy health, and serve as a sustainable model for future laboratory design. As a result of the features described below, the Kansas City Science and Technology Center was 28 percent more energy-efficient than EPA's other comparable new laboratories in FY 2004. See DOE's Federal Showcase Award Winners for more information This facility also garnered an honorable mention in the Sustainable Design/Green Buildings category of the federal Closing the Circle Awards given by the Office of the Federal Environmental Executive.

Unique Environmental Features

Green Power

In October 2004, EPA entered into a three-year contract (procured by the Western Area Power Administration ), with Aquila, Inc. to purchase 3.85 million kilowatt hours (kWh) of green power annually in the form of renewable energy certificates. This contract supports the generation of wind electricity from the Gray Country Wind Farm near Montezuma, Kansas. The purchase will offset 100 percent of the electricity consumption at EPA's Science and Technology Center.

Green Building

On August 4, 2003, the Kansas City Science and Technology Center received the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED^®) 2.0 Gold certification for including attributes such as daylighting, low-flow plumbing fixtures, and wood products from certified sustainable sources in the building design. LEED is a green building rating system developed by the U.S. Green Building Council.
The solicitation for offers (SFO) for this facility included green language to ensure that the facility and all its construction features promote energy efficiency and environmentally preferable materials and design. The SFO encouraged contractors to address energy and water conservation and other environmental factors. See the Kansas City Science and Technology Center Green Lease Rider for more information.
The design competition for the laboratory resulted in an extraordinarily thoughtful and energy conserving mechanical system design which included Variable Air Volume (VAV) fume hoods, a run-around-loop heat recovery system, and VAV heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning systems for the office and support areas. Energy modeling was then performed on this mechanical system design, and additional recommendations were developed and implemented that further improved energy efficiency. These additional efficiency improvements included zoned carbon dioxide sensors, plate and frame exchanger heat recovery, and the addition of a variable frequency drive chiller

Water Conservation

A unique rooftop rainwater recovery system captures and filters rainwater for use in wastewater fixtures; it cuts treated domestic water use by approximately 50 percent and reduces site runoff by 40 percent. Since the rainwater recovery system collects more water than needed for the toilets, the excess is used to provide make-up water for the building's cooling towers. LEED documentation estimates an annual water savings of 735,000 gallons from this unique system.
As part of the Condensate Recovery System, the lab collects air handler condensate water to add to the rainwater storage tank for reuse throughout the building. This project was completed in FY 2006. Current projections indicate that 100 gallons of water per hour could be saved during peak (summer) cooling with this recapture system.
The lab has also developed a deionized water recycling system so that less water will be required and processed for scientific procedures for the regional office.

For More Information

You will need Adobe Reader to view some of the files on this page. See EPA's PDF page to learn more.

For a complete overview of the environmental features of this facility, read EPA's Green Future for Laboratories: A Case Study of the Kansas City Science and Technology Center (PDF) (20 pp, 3.7MB). You can also order a hard copy of this report by requesting document number EPA-200-F-03-001 from the National Service Center for Environmental Publications.

For a summary of the facility's environmental features, view the Sustainable Facilities at EPA: Science and Technology Center, Kansas City, Kansas (PDF) (4 pp, 2.8MB) fact sheet.

EPA's Region 7 laboratory in Kansas City, Kansas, was one of the projects featured at a Science Forum in Washington, D.C. in May 2004. The Forum, sponsored by the EPA Office of Research and Development, highlighted cutting-edge technologies. View the Science and Technology Center Forum poster (PDF) (1 pg, 1.0MB).

Contacts

Chris Taylor (taylor.christopher@epa.gov)
901 N. 5th Street
Kansas City, Kansas 66101
Phone: (913) 551-7736
Fax: (913) 551-9736

Cathy Berlow (berlow.cathy@epa.gov)
Ronald Reagan Building (3204R)
1200 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW.
Washington, DC 20460
Phone: (202) 564-3739

Web site: www.epa.gov/region7

Kansas City, Kansas Science and Technology Center