LEEDing Research

Linde + Robinson Laboratory for Global Environmental Science is the first laboratory in a historic building to receive the U.S. Green Building Council's highest rating, LEED Platinum. LEED, or Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, is a certification based upon standards of human and environmental health, including: sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection and indoor environmental quality.

Caltech's design and build partners helped Linde + Robinson achieve a 60 percent reduction in energy use through upgrades to the historic building, making its consumption one-sixth that of comparable laboratories. These included Bloom Energy® Fuel Cells and a concentrated photo voltaic system for main power, a hydrogen fuel cell for backup power, solar thermal heating of domestic water and industrial water, an energy consumption monitoring system, a thermal water storage tank that uses the repurposed solar telescope's below grade shaft to store chilled water for the building's air conditioning system, 100 percent rainwater harvesting for landscape irrigation and toilet flushing, and daylighting via the historic coelostat.

Another huge component of the lab's energy-centric awareness is the lab equipment, the very heart of the building's existence. Faculty worked with manufacturers to ensure maximum efficiency throughout, creating improvements that benefit not only Caltech, but others in the scientific community.

It's this focus on remembering the environment even as they study changes to it that highlight the faculty's and Caltech's dedication to a better planet and a better way to delve into its mysteries.

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  Science & Technology