RMI - Innovation Center

The Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) is an independent, non-profit organization focused on transforming the global energy system and improving lives by ensuring a clean, prosperous zero-carbon future.  Designed as a demonstration facility, the organization's state of the art Innovation Center truly embraces this mission utilizing high-performance design and technologies to achieve LEED Platinum and Net-Zero Energy ratings.  This state of the art development produces more clean energy than it consumes, is 74% more efficient than the average office in the same climate, and at the time of construction was the highest performing building in one of the coldest climate zones in the U.S.!  Amazingly, the project has no central heating or air conditioning relying on a high perfomance building envelope and passive solar features.

These achievements are made possible in part due to Embedia's Solarai Plus control system, a critical component of the building superinsulating envelope.  Sun tracking automation of the exterior blinds optimizes passive heating, cooling, and daylighting not only to manage solar heat gain and thermal comfort for occupants, a key design criteria for the project, but also to harvest natural light thereby reducing the building's energy consumption.