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Key sustainable building features:

11 kW wind turbine
Closed-loop geothermal field
Two, 20-panel solar arrays
Vegetative roof
Solar thermal heating
Daylight harvesting

This 13,000-square-foot facility is home to the college’s Materials Science Technology and Sustainable Technologies programs. The building itself is an educational tool through the inclusion of renewable energy technologies including on-site wind generation, solar photovoltaic panels, solar thermal hot water, a vegetative roof and geothermal heating and cooling. The building users have access to the performance data for these technologies through monitors located within the building.

To have a building like this where the students can actually see the technology at work, the solar panes and the wind and geothermal,” she said. “They see what that does and how it relates to everyday life, what we’re doing in the industry and what we can do in our own personal homes, so that’s the fun part.

“Black Hawk Shows off New Building.” The Quad-City Times

Creating sustainable environments for education

The program for the building provides for five major learning environments that support an educational mission centered on renewable energy technologies and material sciences.

These spaces include a Materials Lab and a Sustainable Energy Lab, each with an associated demonstration/lecture room and a standalone classroom space. The classrooms and labs
are available for use as instructional spaces for the Credit and Continuing Education courses to provide the opportunity for community outreach in sustainable education.