It’s been a good two weeks for the Pine Bush Preserve Commission. On Tuesday, Feb. 2, the Town of Guilderland dedicated 191 acres of town land to the commission, and a week later the Pine Bush Preserve’s Discovery Center was recognized as one of the most environmental friendly buildings in the Capital District.
On Tuesday Feb. 9, the Department of Environmental Conservation announced the Discovery Center received the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold rating, awarded by the U.S. Green Building Council.
The building, located on New Karner Road, was once a bank; however, in 2004 the Pine Bush Preserve Commission began the process of converting the building into an environmentally friendly learning center.
What initially began as an effort to achieve a Basic LEED level rating, soon, with an energetic design team, turned to a goal of Silver and ended in Gold, said Albany Pine Bush Preserve Commission Executive Director Christopher Hawver, in a release.
The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) provided $103,000 to help the center achieve its gold rating. `The work to attain LEED certification demonstrates the Pine Bush Commission’s commitment to protecting not just the ecology of the Pine Bush Preserve, but the environment as a whole,` said Francis J. Murray, president and CEO of NYSERDA, in a release.
Director of the Discovery Center, Mike Venuti, said the efforts achieve the certification began with the deconstruction of the old bank.
`We were actually able to recycle 97 percent of the materials discarded from the building,` said Venuti. Some of the material recycled until wood, metal, wall supports, and 700 ton of asphalt, which was eventually replaced with native landscaping. This included pitch pines, oak trees, and addition of the discovery trail through the habitat.
`We were also able to take advantage of ebay, and sell stuff left over from the bank,` he said. The center sold the teller stations, windows, and even the vacuum system that was used in the drive through.
After the environmentally frugal deconstruction of the bank, the center continued its go-green approach in building the new facility.
`It took something as large and significant as solar panels, and something as small as a parking space, or bicycle racks,` said Venuti.
The solar panels located outside the building provide power to the building, and any additional energy that is need is bought from a wind farm. In an effort to encourage environmentally friendly transportation, the parking lot outside the building has the closest spaces reserved for car poolers, and people driving low emission vehicles.
The center also installed a new air conditioning system, called a multistack system, that saves energy by only using as many of its four motors that are needed at a given time.
`The old system was all or nothingthis system will give you increments of 25 percent,` said Venuti. To date, the system has logged 54 hours of all four motors operating, while it logged 3043 hours of only one motor operating.
Among the most interesting environmentally friendly additions to the facility are the bathroom facilities that, according to Venuti, used only one third of a cup of water per flush.
The toilets operate using mostly gravity to send the waste into a tank beneath the surface of the ground. Once there, the waste is separated into liquids and solids, and the solid waste is left to decompose over the course of five years.
Venuti said the compost can be used for horticulture, and landscaping, but not for food crops. He also said where you live depends on whether the compost can be used or not, and New York State regulations would currently not allow the utilization of the compost.
While not usable, he said the composting of waste, and the many other additions to the facility are to demonstrate what is possible. He said `The Discovery Center provides options for people to think about, to look at and see what is achievable.`
He also said from here on the goal of the center will be to maintain its go-green environment. `Once you get gold level of LEED certification you have to maintain it, that would be the minimum,` he said.
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