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Plug and process loads (PPLs) in commercial buildings account for almost 5% of U.S. primary energy consumption. Minimizing these loads is a primary challenge in the design and operation of an energy-efficient building. PPLs are not related to general lighting, heating, ventilation, cooling, and water heating, and typically do not provide comfort to the occupants. They use an increasingly large fraction of the building energy use pie because the number and variety of electrical devices have increased along with building system efficiency. Reducing PPLs is difficult because energy efficiency opportunities and the equipment needed to address PPL energy use in retail spaces are poorly understood.

Plug and process loads (PPLs) in commercial buildings account for almost 5% of U.S. primary energy consumption. Minimizing these loads is a primary challenge in the design and operation of an energy-efficient building. PPLs are not related to general lighting, heating, ventilation, cooling, and water heating, and typically do not provide comfort to the occupants. They use an increasingly large fraction of the building energy use pie because the number and variety of electrical devices have increased along with building system efficiency. Reducing PPLs is difficult because energy efficiency opportunities and the equipment needed to address PPL energy use in office spaces are poorly understood.

This publication details the design, implementation strategies, and continuous performance monitoring of NREL's Research Support Facility data center.

This case study details the design and operations of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) Research Support Facility data center and its contributions to energy efficiency.

Plug and process loads in commercial buildings account for 5% of U.S. primary energy consumption. Minimizing these loads is a primary challenge in the design and operation of an energy-efficient building.

This article, published in High Performance Buildings Magazine, presents the process used for delivering NREL's Research Support Facility (RSF) as a replicable blueprint to achieve a large reduction in building energy use and to adopt a net zero energy approach for large-scale commercial buildings (ZEB) without increasing cost.

This decision tree provides information on saving money by implementing advanced power strips and provides specific information on cost, features, drawbacks, and what to look for when purchasing an advanced power strip.

This case study describes National Renewable Energy Laboratory efforts design a world-class, energy-efficient data center to support the operations of a new office building. These efforts resulted in a highly efficient data center that demonstrated considerable energy savings in its first 11 months of operations. Using legacy data center performance as a baseline, the new facility cut energy use by nearly 1.45 million kWh, delivering cost savings of approximately $82,000.

This document provides an example request for proposal (RFP) for a Department of Energy (DOE) and National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) Ingress/Egress Project with a Site Entrance Building and Parking Structure. The RFP has been annotated by NREL to demonstrate the project’s steps that follow NREL and DOE’s Energy-Performance-Based Acquisition process.

This document provides an example request for proposal (RFP) for the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) National Accelerator Laboratory Science and User Support Building. The RFP has been annotated by the National Renewable Energy Lab (NREL) to demonstrate the project’s steps that follow NREL and DOE’s Energy-Performance-Based Acquisition process.