Arizona State University's new science building will conserve energy, water and carbon

Dive Brief:

Arizona State University’s new Interdisciplinary Science and Technology Building (ISTB-7) is aiming for green performance, and then some, with plans to capture and convert carbon, recycle water, and use minimal energy, Building Design and Construction reported.
Phoenix-based architecture firm Studio Ma designed the net-zero energy building, which will feature an air-purifying atrium biome, as well as products and systems that absorb carbon and convert it to nutrients for use in building materials and soil.
Other sustainable attributes will include rainwater collection, sun shades, sewage treatment, air currents, evapotranspiration and photovoltaics. A light-rail station will link the building, and the campus, to the surrounding community.

Dive Insight:

ASU's ISTB-7 is just one of a host of higher education projects that have adopted sustainable practices.

Last month, the first phase of the $2 billion, 12-acre Cornell Tech campus opened on New York City’s Roosevelt Island. Highly sustainable design features prominently throughout the first building completed there, the Bloomberg Center. Photovoltaics, geothermal heat, chilled beams, rainwater harvesting and other products and systems are used to help the four-story building achieve its net-zero energy goals.

All three phases of the campus, which will cover 2 million square feet and include 2.3 acres of public space in all, are expected to be complete in 2043.

The University of Massachusetts, Amherst, is another institution reaping the benefits of a net-zero energy building. At 16,800 square feet, Crotty Hall is designed to produce as much energy as it consumes and is the first net-zero building on campus. It will use roughly 20% of the energy that an average office building in the same climate would use. The building, which contains 35 offices and four conference rooms, opened in March.

Although not net-zero, Belmont University, in Nashville, TN, has made a push toward sustainability with several LEED-certified buildings on its campus. In May 2015, its Wedgewood Academic Center earned LEED for New Construction Platinum certification.

Sustainable features of that project include underground parking to mitigate the heat island effect, electric vehicle charging stations, green roofs, LED lighting, an active chilled beam system and an irrigation system that collects water and run-off in massive underground tanks. The university's Randall and Sadie Baskin Center, which houses its College of Law, is LEED Gold certified.