The Center for Sustainable Landscapes at Phipps Conservatory in Pittsburgh is expected to be the “greenest” i.e. most energy efficient building in the world when it opens this spring.
Besides the low-flow faucets and rainwater harvesting and such, it will be largely heated and cooled by solar panels, a geo-thermal system and fancy air exchange technology.
It will have vertical-axis wind turbines to provide energy and use “living machine” wetlands to treat wastewater.
“Designed and built by people from Pittsburgh and Pennsylvania as an innovation for the world, the CSL will serve as a model for how reconnecting with nature can inspire an abundant and harmonious future,” says Phipps Executive Director Richard V. Piacentini.
The “living machine” wetlands sounds similar to the waste-water control system at an office we once had. Water for the coffee came from a well after which the used coffee was recycled into a cesspool.