Green Buildings

Q: What is the greenest building in America? A:  It could be Kroon Hall, the new home of the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, in New Haven, Conn.  Built by members of BAC Local 1 CT, it is a model of sustainable building methods.

What makes Kroon Hall so green:

• Green construction materials including “thermally inactive” concrete and low-E glass and insulation and low-impact paint
• Recyling of demolition and construction waste 
• Use of sustainably harvested wood
• Exterior stone quarried within 500 miles of campus
• Solar heat gain in winter and natural lighting year round
• Rooftop solar panels facing south
• Solar hot water heaters
• Geothermal energy system
• Natural light and ventilation
• Manually operable windows utilizing natural air circulation
• Rainwater harvesting system and cleansing pond

David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh

Built Green with Union Labor

The site of the AFL-CIO national convention in September 2009, the David L. Lawrence Convention Center is the largest convention center in the United States ever certified by the U.S. Green Building Council. Not only is it the first of its kind in the world—every square inch was built and is operated by members of the union movement.

Union members helped create a convention center where natural light and ventilation are abundant. In fact, more than 75 percent of the building is naturally lit, and the vast primary-hall space is 100 percent naturally lit by skylights and glass walls. Workers installed a natural ventilation system that allows fresh air to cool the building, a result of the roof design and riverside louvers.

Union members built an on-site water reclamation plant that recycles wastewater from sinks, drinking fountains and faucets. Groundsworkers maintain landscaping indigenous to southwestern Pennsylvania, which relies solely on natural rainfall with no irrigation. Union labor built an aquifer 50 feet beneath the center that provides make-up water for the cooling towers. This dramatically reduces the use of the city water supply.

Those are some of the more obvious features of the center, which, in 2003, won the Gold LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) from the U.S. Green Building Council. Just as important, the staff throughout the center uses green materials and employs environmental practices every day—including pre-set thermostats and light sensors, mouse pads made from discarded tires and low- or no-volatile organic compounds in paints, carpeting, adhesives and sealants.

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