The Chicago Center for Green Technology was a US Green Building Council

LEED Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is a green building certification program used worldwide. Developed by the non-profit U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), it includes a set of rating systems for the design, construction ...

Platinum certified building located on a plot of in Chicago's East Garfield Park Community built to showcase green technologies. This was the first municipal and

brownfield site In urban planning, brownfield land is any previously developed land that is not currently in use. It may be potentially contaminated, but this is not required for the area to be considered brownfield. The term is also used to describe land prev ...

to win a LEED Platinum award. This project was completed as part of Mayor Richard M. Daley's Chicago Brownfield Initiative (CBI). The center offered workshops focusing on green technology and

sustainable design Environmentally sustainable design (also called environmentally conscious design, eco-design, etc.) is the philosophy of designing physical objects, the built environment, and services to comply with the principles of ecological sustainability ...

, a green building resource center, and self-guided or guided tours to visitors. The center ceased operations in October 2014, though building tenants remained.

History

Originally constructed in 1952, the site and building have been owned by many different companies. In 1995, the Sacramento Crushing Company, a construction and demolition debris recycling company occupied the site. Sacramento Crushing had exceeded the scope of its permit and the Chicago Department of Environment began an investigation. The site was filled more than 600,000 cubic yards of waste that had been illegally dumped over three decades. This debris was piled high and caused compaction on some areas of the site. The

Illinois EPA The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (Illinois EPA) of the U.S. state, state of Illinois is the primary body concerned with the protection of the environment for the state. The Illinois EPA's mission is "to safeguard environmental quality ...

cited the company for illegal dumping and operation of a waste storage and treatment facility.

Renovation

Renovation of the . building cost a total of $5.4 million and lasted from 1999 to 2003, at which point it was opened to the public. Before the formal

design process A design is a plan or specification for the construction of an object or system or for the implementation of an activity or process or the result of that plan or specification in the form of a prototype, product, or process. The verb ''to design'' ...

began, it was decided that the main goal of the renovation was going to be that the building had to pass the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED Platinum rating, which is the highest LEED rating a building can get. The goal to have the building be LEED Platinum certified was the determining factor in all building decisions, such as mechanical, electrical, and ventilation systems. All aspects of the building were optimized in order to reduce waste during the construction process, and energy waste during the operation of the building once it was completely renovated.

Sustainable features

The Chicago Center for

Green Technology Environmental technology (envirotech) or green technology (greentech), also known as ''clean technology'' (''cleantech''), is the application of one or more of environmental science, green chemistry, environmental monitoring and electronic devic ...

uses about 40% less energy than a building of the same size due to the multiple ways it gathers and conserves its energy.

Solar panel A solar cell panel, solar electric panel, photo-voltaic (PV) module, PV panel or solar panel is an assembly of photovoltaic solar cells mounted in a (usually rectangular) frame, and a neatly organised collection of PV panels is called a photo ...

s on the roof, on awnings around the building, and an array of solar panels in a lot behind the building provide 20% of the building's energy. Passive heating is provided by large double-paned and

insulated glass Insulating glass (IG) consists of two or more glass window panes separated by a space to reduce heat transfer across a part of the building envelope. A window with insulating glass is commonly known as double glazing or a double-paned window, ...

windows that also provide large amounts of light. Another source of heat or

air-conditioning Air conditioning, often abbreviated as A/C or AC, is the process of removing heat from an enclosed space to achieve a more comfortable interior environment (sometimes referred to as 'comfort cooling') and in some cases also strictly controlling ...

, depending on what season it is, comes from 28 vertical wells beneath the building that go to a depth of 200 feet, at which point the temperature is relatively constant. Water is pumped down the wells and then extracted, which helps cool the building in the summer and heat it in the winter. A smart lighting system throughout the building detects the amount of natural light and adjusts the amount of light provided by electricity. Scrap cork flooring and recycled glass bathroom tiles make up part of the

building material Building material is material used for construction. Many naturally occurring substances, such as clay, rock (geology), rocks, sand, wood, and even twigs and leaves, have been used to construct buildings. Apart from naturally occurring materia ...

s, which come from more than 40% recycled material. The Center for Green Technology has a

green roof A green roof or living roof is a roof of a building that is partially or completely covered with vegetation and a growing medium, planted over a waterproofing membrane. It may also include additional layers such as a root barrier and drainage ...

, which consists of of soil and plant matter. The green roof helps to absorb rainwater and insulate the building. Rainwater is released from downspouts into the soil, as opposed to the public sewer system, in order to reduce the amount of run-off contaminants in the sewers. The landscaping around the building is irrigated with rain water that is stored in cisterns, which helps reduce the amount of treated water from the city.

Community involvement

A few of Chicago's most environmentally friendly businesses operate out of the Chicago Center for Green Technology. Chicago Department of Environment's Greencorps Chicago Program is located at CCGT. "Greencorps Chicago is the City of Chicago's paid green-industry job training program focused on horticulture,

landscaping Landscaping refers to any activity that modifies the visible features of an area of land, including the following: # Living elements, such as flora or fauna; or what is commonly called gardening, the art and craft of growing plants with a goal o ...

ecological restoration Restoration ecology is the scientific study supporting the practice of ecological restoration, which is the practice of renewing and restoring degraded, damaged, or destroyed ecosystems and habitats in the environment by active human interrupt ...

, and

tree care Tree care is the application of arboricultural methods like pruning, trimming, and felling/thinning in built environments. Road verge, Greenway (landscape), greenways, backyard and park woody vegetation are at the center of attention for the tree ...

. Training takes place in the classroom and on field projects."

References

{{Coord, 41.8896, -87.7009, type:landmark_region:US-IL, display=title Buildings and structures in Chicago