OAKLAND, Calif., June 25 (AScribe Newswire) -- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the Pacific Gas & Electric Company have honored Chabot Space & Science Center for its pioneering role in a study to significantly reduce loads on California's electricity grid during peak consumption days.
Chabot received an Early Adaptor Innovative Award for being among the 13 facilities to participate in the pilot phase of Demand Response Research Center's Critical Peak Pricing Study of PG&E customers. That study has since expanded to over 200 facilities (including Chabot) in PG&E's service area and is under development for all three of California's investor-owned utility companies.
"Chabot has shown that it can shed electric power during critical usage periods," said Berkeley Lab scientist Mary Ann Piette, the research director for the lab's Demand Response Research Center.
Chabot was cited in another DRRC study concerning pre-cooling in public buildings as "being one of the most successful facilities we've ever studied," Piette said.
In that study, Chabot's 230-ton centrifugal chiller processed cool night air to "chill" its exposed concrete, thereby significantly reducing the need to electrically cool the 86,000-square foot facility during peak demand days. Reducing electrical peak demand, the study noted, "has a huge economic and environmental benefit to California."
"Participation in these studies underscores our fierce commitment to environmental detail before, during and after construction," said Dick Spees, chairman of Chabot's Joint Powers Agency. "Chabot was designed to be green."
Spees, a 24-year member of Oakland's City Council, spearheaded the effort - along with current Oakland Mayor Ronald Dellums, then a member of Congress - to build a state-of-the-art center atop the Oakland hills. Chabot, chartered in 1883, opened its new facility in August 2000.
"We take very seriously our role as an environmental leader," said Chabot Space & Science Center executive director/CEO Alexander Zwissler. "When kids come to Chabot for our environmental science classes, they might not notice our innovative chiller system, our high-efficiency HVAC system or our solar-panel addition on the roof. But you can't position yourself as an environmental advocate - let alone teach the next generation to be environmental stewards - if you're not taking an aggressive stance on energy consumption. 'Zero Waste' isn't just a pie-in-the-sky aspiration at Chabot. It's a realistic goal."
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CONTACTS: Brian Higgins, 510-336-7310, bhiggins@chabotspace.org
Sarah Rogers, 510-336-7304, srogers@chabotspace.org
Media Contact: See above.
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