Trekking across campus to the Bloomberg Department of Physics or the Recreation Center, it is impossible to miss the iconic four-story-high Undergraduate Teaching Laboratories (UTL) building. Though you may have noticed its glazed-glass exterior and cells of students and staff alike conducting experiments, the UTL stands out this year for a different reason: its platinum certification from the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program.
The LEED program, administered by the U.S. Green Building Council, includes a point system that rates the environmental impact of buildings as Certified, Silver, Gold or Platinum. Out of 108 possible points, the UTL scored 80 points.
Although the 105,000-square foot facility houses state-of-the-art labs focused on a variety of subjects such as chemistry, biology, neuroscience and biophysics, Hopkins is committed to maintaining the UTL’s cutting-edge technological prowess and sustainability.
For its environmentally friendly technology such as chilled beams, occupancy sensors, daylight sensors and energy wheels that recover heat and moisture from exhaust air, the UTL received the highest possible LEED certification, surpassing the University’s overall LEED Silver standard.
“To achieve Platinum for such a resource-intensive building truly speaks to the design and construction team’s commitment to integrate sustainability in innovative throughout the space,” Ashley Pennington, program manager of the Johns Hopkins Office of Sustainability, said in a press release.
The UTL also surpassed the administration’s predicted LEED Silver or Gold certification at its opening in 2013.
The UTL is 40 percent more energy efficient than similar lab buildings, and its design success is unprecedented compared to other buildings on campus. In particular, its energy-recovering technology recycles energy that would otherwise be lost — a novel feature that makes the UTL revolutionary among labs. Even the building’s exterior repurposes resources that would normally have no function; Its micro-bioretention and rain gardens help capture stormwater runoff.
“Compared to its neighbors Mudd Hall, the Levi Building and the Biology III Building, the UTL building is using about half the energy they use,” Matthew Beecy, associate director of engineering, energy and sustainability for Johns Hopkins Facilities and Real Estate, said in a press release.
According to Beecy, the novel technology installed and the management of building operations are key factors in energy conservation.
Brad Crowley, a project engineer who helped design the facility, said in 2013 that a major part of the design process was to emphasize low energy use and help decrease the university’s carbon footprint. Less than four years later, the UTL has become a symbol of Hopkins’ commitment to maintaining both scientific progress and sustainability in an era when environmental consciousness is more critical than ever.
In the future, Hopkins will become an increasingly environmentally conscious campus — the upcoming $30 million renovation of Macaulay Hall will be modeled on the new standard the UTL has set on campus. Perhaps other universities and research facilities will shift towards more sustainable technology as well.
As Greg Ball, former vice dean for science and research infrastructure, stated in 2013 concerning the UTL’s unveiling, the facility itself can serve as a research model.
