Grid-Interactive Efficient Buildings: Leveraging the Federal Building Stock to Support the Future Grid—A Case Study from Central Islip, New York
Publication: Leveraging Sustainable Infrastructure for Resilient Communities
ABSTRACT
The General Services Administration (GSA) owns and maintains the largest portfolio of facilities in the United States. This infrastructure stock requires significant resources to operate, including ample, reliable access to electricity, natural gas, and water. The Department of Civil and Mechanical Engineering at the United States Military Academy has partnered with the GSA to study the opportunity to better integrate building assets with local energy infrastructure. The project is part of the GSA’s Grid-Interactive Efficient Buildings (GEB) program and is focused on the Central Islip Federal Courthouse complex. Using a case-study approach, the project explores the capability for the courthouse to improve how energy is produced and consumed with the goals of reducing operating expenses, improving environmental impacts, and integrating more intelligently with the local grid. A technoeconomic model was built and a sensitivity analysis completed to consider the tradeoffs of conceptual design alternatives, including solar photovoltaics and energy storage. The solutions presented are placed in context with the broader literature on GEB to support the future of energy infrastructure. The findings of the project show that a carport style photovoltaic array in an existing parking lot at the courthouse has an estimated payback period of 19 years, while the best ground mounted array has a payback of eight years, albeit a lower generation capacity compared with the larger carport array.
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Leveraging Sustainable Infrastructure for Resilient Communities
Pages: 34 - 46
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Published online: Jan 20, 2022
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