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​​​​​​​​The Net-Zero Energy Warehouse with Victor Stancil

​Victor Stancil is the Engineering Management Section Chief of the Research Triangle Park Facilities Management Branch in the Division of Facilities Operations and Maintenance, ORF. He also operated as the lead project engineer for the Net-Zero Energy Warehouse project on the Research Triangle Park Campus. This ambitious facility was just an idea in 2010 and was fully completed by July of 2017.​

“The primary goal of the facility was to accommodate and consolidate all the NIEHS warehouse operations that previously occurred at three separate locations in the area.”

Just by folding multiple locations into one, the warehouse was able to reduce operating costs and improve energy efficiency. But Victor’s team didn’t stop there. They decided to go for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Platinum, a premier green building certification that requires excellence in the environmental and efficiency sectors. From rooftop solar panel arrays to natural skylights, advanced space heating and cooling, even the building’s shell itself. Every inch of the facility has been fine-tuned to make it a net-zero energy facility.

“What we would always rely on [during the building construction] was backing up to ‘what did you model for this building.’ You can change the specifications how you need to [in order] to facilitate whatever supply chain constraint that you may be faced with right now or whatever increase in cost that you weren't anticipating, but is it equivalent to what you modeled in the energy model?”

The building’s operation is equally as impressive, with X-ray machines large enough to scan whole pallets, an onsite compactor for more efficient cardboard recycling and an indoor electric lift for quick maintenance on upper levels. Despite all this energy-efficient technology, Victor believes the heart of the building’s net-zero abilities lies in its occupants.

“Occupant participation is critical to success in one of these types of facilities. It can't be done without a group effort. From the construction component all the way to how you're going to use the facility, [it] has to be consistent with how it was planned to be performed. Otherwise, you're going to start deviating.”

This even means sometimes sacrificing comforts to stay within the constraints of the energy model. No space heaters, no mini fridges and sometimes wearing jackets during the winter. While that might not seem glamorous, the team is able to ensure that the building has net-zero greenhouse gas emissions and ‘not applicable' energy costs each year. That is an incredible feat!

Victor leaves us with this candid charge:

“If we're really going to be serious about net-zero, we're going to have to be a little bit uncomfortable.”

For the full transcript, which includes in-depth descriptions on the technical aspects of the warehouse, click here.

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​Solar Solutions at NIH ICER Uganda ​​The NIH International Centers for Excellence in Research (ICER) in Uganda installed solar panel arrays to solve their unique problems associated with their unreliable grid.​ To counteract this problem, the NIH ICER Uganda sites became 100% solar powered to meet their energy need​. ​​LEA​RN MORE​​​​​

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NEMS Training                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         

Did you know? The NIH Uganda site is an ideal location for solar panels due to its high year-round levels of sunlight. To learn more about alternative energy sources, please visit the NEMS T​raining webpage to view a short (20 minute) NIH environmental awareness training video.​​