Gallery: Stunning Zero Plus Energy Lab...
The Energy Lab also includes some advanced teaching techniques that transform the traditional model of teacher in front and students behind. Everyone faces in, no one is in the back or front.
Photo credit ©Flansburgh Architects
The living laboratory is powered by renewable energy, with solar panels on the roof and a couple small-scale wind turbines on the hill behind the school. The Energy Lab actually only uses 8% of the power it generates, while the rest is fed into the grid and goes to power the rest of the buildings at the academy, making it a zero plus facility.
Definitely jealous! +_+
The design was by the architects but credit for the conceptual design goes to Dr. Bill Wiecking, who runs the Energy Lab and the computer lab. More details about the Energy Lab are http://www.hpa.edu/energylab and http://www.hpa.edu/energylab/about . Watch the video for more about what he envisions it to be and what it teaches. “We shape our buildings and our buildings shape us.” Note also that if you are on Hawai’i you can go on a tour of the lab.