The Energy Department recognized the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Ottawa National Refuge Design Team with its 2008 Federal Energy and Water Management Award. The team received the award in the category of Small Group Sustainable Design/High Performance Buildings. Ottawa refuge manager Doug Brewer, landscape architect Andrew McDermott, and Visitor Services chief Donna Stanek accepted the award at a ceremony in Washington, D.C., on Oct. 22. The other winners of the award, past Ottawa refuge manager Dan Frisk and engineering chief Rick Frietsche, were unable to attend the ceremony.

The Energy Department awarded the team for its efforts in building the new Ottawa NWR Visitor Center in Ohio. The center replaced the old headquarters building, which the Fish and Wildlife Service constructed in the 1940s. The team designed the new high-performance building to be equivalent to a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design "Silver" rating.  A pond-loop geothermal heat pump system, with geothermal, radiant-floor heating on the main level, heats and cools the building's 12,684 square feet. The building also incorporates the following:

• high-efficiency   lighting, which motion and daylight sensors control;
• point-of-use   hot-water heaters;
• high-efficiency,  
• low-E,   tinted windows;
• super   insulation;
• a   reflective metal roof consisting of 32 percent recycled steel;
• natural   linoleum flooring;
• carpet   with a high recycled content;
• low   light pollution;
• rainwater   gardens and holding ponds; and
• restoration   of wetland; and native planting.

The sustainable design reduced the building's energy intensity by 51 percent in 2007 from 2003 levels.