The Nova Scotia Community College’s “living laboratory” in Dartmouth got some more green yesterday – $1.4 million to be exact.
That’s how much the NDP government kicking in for the innovative Centre for the Built Environment, part of the college’s Waterfront Campus. The centre will be built almost entirely with new, green technology
The government cash is slated to go toward solar panels on the roof, a solar hot water system, wind turbines, geothermal heating and cooling, as well as a new style of roof that will reduce heating and cooling demands while increasing water absorption.
“The innovative technologies used to build and operate this new facility will set the bar for energy efficiency and conservation and be a model for new and existing buildings, offices and homes in our communities,” Environment Minister Sterling Belliveau said in a news release.
The centre — currently under construction — is set to open in 2010 to deal with the “built environment,” such as homes, roads and cities. It will ensure spots for about 800 students to work toward developing an environmentally conscious construction sector.
NSCC President Joan McArthur-Blair has in the past described the Centre for the Built Environment as “a living laboratory to look at ways we can relate to the built environment. It will have living walls on it with green roofs, green walls, wind, solar.”
The $1.4 million announced yesterday is on top of almost $28 million in capital funding committed by the government towards the estimated $31-million total cost of the building.
