Energy Use and Costs at PNNL
Each year the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory consumes roughly $4.2M of energy:
- 15 megawatts of electricity (84.7 million kWh) costing $4.2 million for the facilities at Richland, Washington, and the Marine Sciences Laboratory at Sequim, Washington (Battelle, DOE, and leased buildings). The overall average electricity cost rate is approximately 5.0 cents/kWh, compared to the national average of 8.1 cents/kWh.
- 1.5 million therms of natural gas costing $1.40M for the facilities in Richland, Washington (Battelle, Environmental Molecular Science Laboratory, and 300 Area facilities).
The Battelle, leased, and Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory buildings make the Laboratory one of the largest commercial consumers of electricity purchased from the city of Richland. At Hanford, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory's (PNNL) 300 Area facilities consume about 13.9% of the electricity used on the Hanford Site.
PNNL strives to operate smarter and use more efficient technologies.