Green Technology

What can be accomplished in a Green Building?? 

Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio,  takes a careful look ...

>>> Their Adam Joseph Lewis Center for Environmental Studies is detailed below ...

"... was conceived as a demonstration project, ... designed to be a building that would teach. Lessons embodied in its technology and design choices are intended to reinforce those taught in its classrooms. ... "

"...Efforts to research the AJLC's evolution are well underway, providing ongoing opportunities to educate a variety of audiences, including Oberlin College students, regional kindergarten through high school students, other university students and faculty, architecture and design professionals, and lay audiences."

"With over 150 environmental sensors installed throughout the building and landscape, the AJLC's data monitoring and display system provides a unique opportunity to visualize in real-time the flows of energy and cycling of matter that are necessary to support the built environment. ... premise of this work is that real-time feedback on ecological performance increases awareness, ... feedback of this type may be a necessary prerequisite for facilitating a more sustainable relationship among humans, technology and the natural world."

 
Some building details ...

"Energy - Photovoltaic (PV) panels on the roof ... meet a substantial fraction of the building's energy needs. Solar energy production is coupled with energy efficient lighting, heating, and appliances to minimize negative environmental impact."

"Heating, Cooling & Air Quality - ... both active and passive systems, ...provides a comfortable working environment ... Active systems use mechanical equipment to extract and move heat, while passive systems do so with a minimum of mechanical devices."

"Landscape - ... landscape features a variety of constructed ecosystems that simulate native Northern Ohio ecosystems and incorporate cultigens that produce food for humans."

"Living Machine & Water Use - ... is an ecologically engineered system that combines elements of conventional wastewater technology with the purification processes of wetland ecosystems to treat and recycle the building's wastewater for reuse in the toilets and landscape."

"Weather Conditions - A weather station ... monitoring real-time conditions and trends for a variety of environmental variables."

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Materials - Materials ... elected to enhance its sustainability and were evaluated based on criteria that required less energy inputs, encouraged local production and distribution, and supported creative economic structures."

Via:  Oberlin.edu   Link