U.S. Department of Energy - Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy

Federal Energy Management Program

Sandia National Laboratories Building 753

Energy Use Intensity

Current Rank: 6th

Change in EUI: -18.7%

Graphic of a baseball card showing a photo of the Sandia National Laoratories Building 753.
Graphic of the back of a baseball card showing statistics for the Sandia National Laoratories Building 753. The building is located in Albuquerque, NM, is in the category Office Space, is 8,366 sq ft, and has an energy baseline of 71.4 KBtu/sq ft. It's highlights include occupancy sensors for office lighting and building automation system (BAS) and occupancy sensors for BAS control HVAC system.

The Department of Energy Sandia National Laboratory's Building 753 in Albuquerque, New Mexico, is a one-story office building that was strategically selected for the installation of occupancy sensors for lighting and HVAC automation for two reasons: It was already fully metered, and it was relatively small.

Energy Improvements

The energy reduction at Building 753 was designed to leverage the existing building metered system and take occupancy sensing to a higher level. Improvements included:

  • Installing new occupancy sensors and connecting them to the office lighting, as well as the building automation system, which controls the HVAC system.

With this "smart" building approach in place, the system senses when the building occupants vacate their offices and will switch lights off. The system also closes airflow dampers in unoccupied offices through the HVAC occupancy sensing meters. The team also worked with the building occupants to allow another addition, which provided the energy saving ability to adjust the thermostats that control the temperature in their offices, allowing occupants to control temperatures according to their comfort during occupancy.

As a result of these improvements, Building 753 is currently a candidate for High-Performance Sustainable Building Guiding Principles for Existing Buildings through its achievement of ENERGY STAR® certification.