Congressional hearings examine biosafety boom The rapid proliferation of biosafety labs has prompted interest on Capitol Hill, resulting in congressional hearings scheduled for early October. Reps. John Dingell (D-MI), chairman of the Committee on Energy and Commerce, and Bart Stupak (D-MI), chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, have scheduled the sessions to examine issues in the design, construction, and operation of BSL-3 and -4 facilities, many of which have been built with federal funding. “Little information is available about the number of labs being operated in the U.S. and whether they are safely run,” says Dingell. “While the research conducted at these labs is certainly valuable, we must make sure that it does not pose a risk to the public health.”
Stupak says, “The potential human health risks involved in this kind of research dictate that we take a close look at whether these biosafety labs are being designed, constructed, and operated safely. Is there a point at which there are so many labs doing this research that you actually increase the chances of a catastrophic release of a deadly disease?”
Witnesses at the hearings will include representatives from the Government Accounting Office, as well as others who had not been determined at press time. Dingell and Stupak’s announcement cited concerns about a 2006 accident at Texas A&M Univ., when three people were infected with Q fever, as well as a preliminary report that a recent outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in the U.K. may have originated at a biosafety lab in Surrey. For more:http://energycommerce.house.gov/Press_110/110nr57.shtml.
New Jersey referendum governs fate of stem cell plans Citizens of New Jersey will decide in November whether to approve borrowing $450 million for stem cell research in the state. The New Jersey legislature has already approved $150 million in construction bond issuance for a major new stem cell lab in New Brunswick, which would be operated by the Stem Cell Institute of New Jersey. The organization is a consortium involving the Univ. of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, Rutgers Univ., the Coriell Institute for Medical Research, and the Cancer Institute of New Jersey. Also approved were $50 million for new stem cell facilities at the New Jersey Institute of Technology in Newark, and $50 million for facilities at existing sites at Rutgers and in Camden. The primary 18-story research tower in New Brunswick is targeted for completion in 2011. For more:www2.umdnj.edu/scinjweb/.
Storm-resistant construction methods studied Florida International Univ. hopes to promote design of stronger buildings by creating a new lab for its International Hurricane Research Center in Miami. Scheduled to be fully operational by next summer, the RenaissanceRe Wall of Wind facility includes wind- and rain-generating equipment for the study of building technologies. Researchers will be able to build structures as large as a two-story house and destroy them under controlled conditions, including simulation of a Category 4 hurricane (130 to 140 mph winds) with an array of 24 industrial fans. Support for the project is being provided by the state and by WeatherPredictConsulting Inc., a U.S. affiliate of reinsurance and insurance provider RenaissanceREHoldings Ltd. The new enclosed lab, an expansion of an existing outdoor lab with six fan units, will join a new wind and rain simulation facility at the Univ. of Florida’s Powell Family Structures and Materials Laboratory in Gainesville. Possible building code changes are expected as a result of the state’s new research capabilities. For more:www.ihc.fiu.edu.
LOY 2006 scores LEED platinum The Biodesign Institute at Arizona
State Univ., Building B, has received LEED Platinum certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. The companion facility, Building A, was opened in 2004 and previously received Gold-level certification. The combined structure was named Laboratory of the Year 2006 by R&D Magazine. Both buildings were designed by Lord, Aeck & Sargent, Atlanta, and Gould Evans, Phoenix. Building B is one of only four labs ever to achieve Platinum certification, joining the NREL Science & Technology Facility, Golden, Colo.; the Donald Bren School of Environmental Science & Management, Univ. of California-Santa Barbara; and the Tahhoe Center for Environmental Sciences, Sierra Nevada College, Incline Village, Nev. (The Hawaii Gateway Energy Center, Kailua-Kona, has also achieved Platinum; it consists mostly of office and support space but also includes a small research facility.) For more:http://asunews.asu.edu/20070801_biodesign.
Green premium may be mythical Cost estimating firm Davis Langdon has published an update to its groundbreaking 2004 study on the costs of sustainable design. “The Cost of Green Revisited” indicates that the “green premium” has often been overstated and that many American projects achieve LEED status within budgets in the same cost range as comparable non-LEED projects. The paradigm continues even in the face of rising construction costs, according to the study. However, the idea that “green” is an added feature continues to be a problem. Download at www.davislangdon.com/USA/Research/.
In related news, a global survey of 1,400 respondents involved in design and construction estimated that green buildings cost 17% more than conventional construction, rather than a more evident premium of 5% or less. Respondents thought buildings only contribute 19% of the world’s total greenhouse gas emissions, instead of the actual number of 40%. The survey was conducted by the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, in cooperation with French building materials vendor Lafarge and Connecticut-based United Technologies Corp. Download “Energy Efficiency in Buildings: Business Realities and Opportunities” at www.wbcsd.org.
Research goes deep in South Dakota The shuttered Homestake Gold Mine in the Black Hills near Lead, S.D., is scheduled for adaptive reuse as a national deep underground science and engineering laboratory, with funding from the National Science Foundation. The Homestake Collaboration, led by the Univ. of California-Berkeley and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, intends to build a facility that could eventually support experiments at depths of up to 8,000 ft. The deep rocky caverns would provide natural shielding from cosmic rays, making the site attractive for physics research. The NSF has approved $15 million for initial design; construction could cost an estimated $300 million. South Dakota philanthropist Denny Sanford has provided $70 million for immediate construction at about 5,000 ft deep so experiments can begin more quickly. In honor of the gift, the lab will be officially known as the Sanford Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory. Other available funding includes $46.5 million from the state and a previous $10 million federal grant. The mine’s owner, Barrick Gold Corp. of Toronto, donated the property for scientific use, making the new development possible. For more:www.sanfordlaboratoryathomestake.org.
9/11 studies influence code changes In the wake of a three-year investigation and recommendations by NIST, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the International Code Council is incorporating changes aimed at improving buildings’ fire resistance and evacuation strategies. The changes will be incorporated in a 2007 supplement to the ICC’s International Building Code. They address such areas as the fire resistance of structural components, the use of sprayed fire-resistive materials (fireproofing), elevators by use for first responders, the acceptable number of stairwells, and exit path markings. Additional changes are being contemplated for a more major 2009 code revision, including tactics for preventing disproportionate progressive collapse and guidelines for the use of wind tunnel tests for tall buildings. For more:http://wtc.nist.gov/.
Calculating green ASHRAE, the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air Conditioning Engineers, has announced a plan to try to bring some clarity to the tricky business of carbon metrics and performance measurement. Along with the Chartered Institute of Building Services Engineers and the U.S. Green Building Council, ASHRAE hopes to formulate better standards for measuring, expressing, and comparing energy use, water use, and indoor environmental quality of buildings. Baseline criteria will be established for each area. The study is commencing with a literature evaluation, to be followed by research on calculating the carbon emission equivalents of the energy used in buildings, including gas, electricity, and other fuels. ASHRAE hopes to add precision to existing EPA calculation tools, such as conversion factors required to adjust for region and time of day. In related work, ASHRAE hopes to promote advanced energy savings by amending Standard 90.1, “Energy Standard for Building Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings.” A target of 30% energy reduction by 2010 is being discussed. For more:www.ashrae.org.
Berkeley lab examines windows, lighting controls Research in the Environmental Energy Technologies Div. of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, Calif., may result in the creation of more advanced windows and lighting controls. The Advanced Windows Testbed, finished in late 2003, is allowing study on large arrays of high-tech windows, similar to the glazed curtainwall systems popular in modern buildings. Electrochromic windows, which have coatings that allow them to darken and lighten in response to low electric voltage, are a particular focus of the study. Initial results indicate that EC windows could reduce energy use in commercial buildings by 15 to 25%. The Testbed lab employs arrays of south-facing windows, in front of spaces outfitted like typical offices. Sensors in each room track light levels, surface brightness, temperatures, plug loads, and other metrics. LBNL scientists are enthusiastic about the windows’ performance, but say the windows are still in an early stage of commercialization and would benefit from an improved control system that would be easier for facilities staff to recalibrate and troubleshoot.
In another commercially oriented project, the EETD team is studying a wireless lighting management network, composed of tiny wireless sensors called “motes.” The system can dim electric lights in response to daylight levels and is intended to be easy to retrofit into existing systems. Such a technology would cost an estimated 30% less than a wired retrofit. For more:http://eetdnews.lbl.gov/ (winter-spring 2007 and summer 2006).
Labs recognized for superior design Two projects by Cannon Design, Los Angeles, were recognized in the recent Next LA awards competition, organized annually by the Los Angeles chapter of the American Institute of Architects. The program specifically recognizes projects that have not yet been built. An Honor Award was given to Cannon for the California State Univ. at Northridge Science Teaching Building, a 90,000-ft2 facility. The Technopark at the Seoul (Korea) National Univ. of Technology was recognized with a Merit Award. The 250,000-ft2 complex includes labs, an auditorium, multipurpose rooms, and conferencing space.
Overseas, the Marine Institute Headquarters, County Galway, Ireland, was named Best Accessible Project in the Irish Architecture Awards, administered by the Royal Institute of Architects in Ireland (RIAI). The lab/office building incorporates flexible workspaces and sustainable features, and was designed by the national Office of Public Works/Architectural Services.
Synchrotron Light Source set for upgrade The DoE’s National
Concept rendering of the National Synchrotron Light Source-II, Upton, N.Y. (image courtesy of the Dept. of Energy/Brookhaven National Laboratory).Click to enlarge.
Synchrotron Light Source at the Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, N.Y., is on track to be significantly improved with the construction of NSLS-II, a replacement facility. The agency recently granted the project Critical Decision 1 status, putting it on track for construction starting in 2009. Scheduled for completion in 2025, the user facility will cost $750 to $925 million, and will ultimately provide x-ray light 10,000 3 brighter than that generated at the existing NSLS, which is 25 years old. Advancements in nanoscience, energy, biology, genomics, and materials research will be facilitated by the project. For more:www.bnl.gov/nsls2/.
Boston dental school to open Dubai branch The School of Dental Medicine at Boston Univ. is creating a dental training institute in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. The new BU Institute for Dental Research and Education and BU Dental Health Center Dubai are being constructed as part of a 19 million-ft2 complex, Dubai Healthcare City. The BU facilities will include provisions for research as well as education and treatment, and will join a Harvard Medical School facility at the site. Clinical care and training are scheduled to begin in 2008. Initial staffing will be provided by about a dozen BU faculty. For more:www.bu.edu/phpbin/news-cms/news/?dept=660&id=46104.
