NASA’s Sustainability Base is nearly complete. The 20 million “smart building” opens in July and will be one of a few structures that can generate more electricity than it consumes.
Located near San Jose, the Sustainability Base is generating a lot of buzz among businesses and government agencies trying to be more green.
Photovoltaic solar panels blanket the roof and patio umbrellas. Outside of the building, a fuel cell will create electricity from natural gas. Eventually, NASA hopes to use methane gas captured from landfills to generate electricity.
NASA kept the construction of the building as eco-friendly as possible. 92% of the waste created during construction was either recycled or disposed in an environmentally friendly way and kept out of landfills. Steel and other materials were sourced from local vendors to help reduce emissions from transporting them.
Compared to other office buildings of similar size, the Sustainability Base will be about 6% more expensive to construct. However, due to smaller operating costs, NASA expects to recoup the expense within a decade.
Designed by architectural firm, William McDonough + Partners and AECOM, it’s no wonder that the federal government is already calling the facility its green building of the year.
via: latimes.com
Photo #1: nasa.gov/ Drawing & photo #2: swinerton.com
Related: previously on altCon – McDonough; Brad Pitt + Kiehl’s
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Wow that is pretty awesome. The cool thing about it is they were able to do it economically, paving the way for people to do this in the future. Hopefully soon we will see buildings built like this all over the country, cool post!