The Visitor Center and Comfort Station at the Zion National Park, Springdale, Utah, has been selected for the Green Building Challenge 2000. The GBC Challenge program is an international effort to evaluate and improve the performance of sustainable buildings that conserve natural resources and minimize energy use. The Zion facility is one of four structures selected to represent the United States at the GBC 2000. The facility is one of the National Park Service’s most sustainable complexes. The project, designed by the National Park Service Denver Service Center, consumes 70% less energy than conventional buildings.
The Zion facility uses many energy efficient and renewable energy components such as: passive solar heating, natural ventilation, daylighting, and photovoltaic energy generation. In fact, the utility meters for the Visitor Center can actually run in reverse (net-metering), selling energy back to the utility company. A computer system ensures that all energy-efficient features of the building work together. For example, weather data is collected to assist in the energy decisions about the facility and the computer then controls the cooling towers, radiant panels, lighting, and windows of the facility.
The U.S. GBC team will present a case study of the Zion facility at its international meeting in the Netherlands in October. The conference will bring together professionals who specialize in sustainability from around the world and establish international benchmarks for building performance.
The Green Building Challenge (GBC), which began as an international challenge among 16 countries to determine who had the “greenest” buildings, has evolved into a cooperative process between nations to measure and promote energy efficiency and overall sustainability of structures. The ultimate goal of the GBC is to develop buildings that contribute to global sustainability.
Details are available from http://www.nrel.gov/buildings/highperformance/projects/zion/zion.htm and http://www.eren.doe.gov/buildings/gbc2000.
