Eco Factor: Sun and rain harvesting hall for Yale University.
Hopkins Architects along with Centerbrook Architects and Planners have completed construction of the Kroon Hall at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut. The building is among the first American buildings to achieve carbon neutrality and is expected to receive a LEED Platinum certifications owning to the use of some of the most advanced green technologies.
The building is designed to consume half the energy of any other comparable building, thereby reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 62%, and generate 26% of the electricity it needs from a 100KW rooftop photovoltaic array. The other 74% of the electricity will also be purchased from renewable sources.
In addition to the use of solar energy, the $33.5 million building will make use of advanced solar shading and passive techniques to lower the amount of energy required to illuminate, heat or cool the interiors. Throughout the building, button-sized red or green lights will be installed to indicate if the conditions outside permit the windows to be opened.
For cooling the interiors, the building will extract underground water, at a constant temperature of 14 degrees Celsius. During winter the same water will be pressurized to raise its temperature and allow heating the air that enters the building. Gray water and rainwater will be stored in an underground tank and will be processed to make it fit for the toilets.
Via: BDOnline
