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Construction, reconstruction and renovations are familiar words to those familiar with
the University of Iowa campus. In 2009, University of Iowa declared a LEED standard as they continue
to build and renovate the campus in an effort to be more sustainable. LEED stands for Leadership
in Energy and Environmental Design, and is an internationally recognized standard developed
by the U.S. Green Building Council. Already the university’s new facilities are exceeding
expectations and reaping their rewards. Well our first LEED building was the Beckwith Boathouse,
which is a beautiful building located directly on the Iowa River. But it was built to be
flood resilient. We know that the Iowa River waters will rise and fall at times so that
building needed to be built to withstand inundation at times. The Beckwith Boathouse was completed
in 2009 and has many features that allow it to stand strong before the Iowa River, but
the University did not stop there. Though administrators promised a Silver Standard,
4 University buildings have already received LEED Gold awards, and most recently, the University
truly shined in receiving a LEED Platinum Award for the new Information Technology Facility.
There are only a handful of Platinum information technology centers in the world, and we are
lucky enough to have one on our campus. So we’re really proud of that. Attaining LEED
Platinum status for an information technology building is no small feat. This building is
larger than the football field, and contains rows of batteries, endless computer servers,
and monstrously large industrial equipment. The project took nearly seven years and $30
million to complete, but the investment could really pay off. I believe that it costs
more to build energy efficiently but the kicker is that every single minute that this place
is running we’re saving money that we otherwise would have been spending had we not made that
expenditure. So over a ten, twenty year period, who knows what the saving is going to be?
Among the many factors that make the building environmentally friendly, some of the smallest
tricks have the best outcomes. You see that we have empty space here, and so what would
go here is another bank of batteries as we have the need for it but not before. Little
bit of energy savings and every little bit helps. In leaving space empty, the building
is always ready for expansion without the additional cost of more construction. Other
tricks include keeping the lights turned off, conserving rain water, and using an excellent
filtration systems that will keep the air around the building clean too. Other universities
see what we’re doing and try to imitate our practices. They’ll probably be forced
to do it, and I think one of the cool things about the University of Iowa is that although
we weren’t forced to do it we did it because it’s the right thing to do. It costs more
to do that but that’s, I think we have to be leaders in that way. After this inspiring
accomplishment, the University has no plans to stop. While the Biomedical Research Center
is still in construction and on it’s way to becoming another LEED certified building,
the College of Public Health was completed in 2011 and it’s certification is in the
works. This is the beautiful new college of public health. You can see around here the
beautiful use of locally available materials like limestone and woods. And if you noticed,
the glass is on the east side of the building so it takes advantage of early morning light
and floods the entire atrium here with light and by the time the sun moves to the south,
it’s against a brick wall or stone wall and so that reduces the need for additional
air conditioning. Most of what goes into keeping our buildings energy efficient are creative
ways of using natural resources, conserving those resources, and investing a little extra
now to see great payoff in the future. I mean we are not walking away from this LEED designation
and building so sustainably, it just makes sense it really does.