Yale is aiming for the highest Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating for the new home for the School of Forestry & Environmental Studies, shown above in an artist’s rendering. The building, which will be named to honor Yale alumnus Richard E. Kroon ’64, will promote energy efficiency and climate neutrality.

Yale President Richard Levin Calls for Action on Global Warming

Yale’s 300-acre campus is going green, with efforts to reduce energy consumption for lighting, heating, cooling, and transportation.

During the January 2007 meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, President Richard C. Levin called on large organizations around the world to take action now to address global warming by reducing their greenhouse gas emissions.

“We cannot wait for our governments to act, though they must act if the problem is ultimately to be solved,” Levin told the leaders assembled at the forum in January. “Large organizations all over the world with the power to act independently should take matters into their own hands and begin to reduce greenhouse gas emissions now.

“We need to demonstrate that resisting global warming is feasible and not prohibitively expensive,” he added. “By showing leadership in action, not just in words, we will make the necessary response by governments much more likely.”

Yale committed in 2005 to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions to 10% below the 1990 level by the year 2020. This represents a 43% reduction from the 2004 level, even while plans call for 15% growth in the University’s physical plant.

In an interview in the Jan. 26 issue of Newsweek titled “Yale’s Plan To Be the ‘Greenest’ University,” Levin said Yale had adopted these goals because “Global warming is real, and human activity is a major contributing factor, so it was clear that something had to be done.”

Yale has already reduced campus greenhouse gas emissions by 6% in one year. Among other measures, it has installed more efficient controls and sensors to regulate heat, air conditioning and lighting; begun to modify its power plant and distribution systems for greater efficiency; and is running its campus bus fleet on a blend of ultra low sulfur diesel and carbon-free biodiesel fuels.

Asked how the campus community was reacting to these measures, Levin told Newsweek, “We’ve had a phenomenal response. Our faculty, students and alumni all take pride in what we’re doing.”

Green Architecture

Yale’s environmental commitment is underscored by its growing investment in green architecture. Recent campus buildings have qualified for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) ratings—now a requirement for all new construction at Yale —including the Daniel L. Malone Engineering Center (gold) and the Class of 1954 Chemistry Research Building (silver).

Appropriately, Yale is aiming for the platinum rating in its next building—a new home for the School of Forestry & Environmental Studies (F&ES). London-based Hopkins Architects was selected from twenty-four architectural firms around the world to design the building, which is scheduled for completion in 2008.

“The new ‘green’ building will set a new standard for sustainable design, construction, and operations at Yale and beyond,” says President Richard C. Levin. “It will be a first-rate facility for a world-class institution.”

Assisting in the building’s design and construction will be Connecticut-based Centerbrook Architects & Planners; Arup, an engineering firm with offices in Europe and the United States; and Atelier Ten, an environmental design and building services engineering firm with offices in London and New York.

Students, faculty, and staff participating in the Yale Sustainable Food Project grow much of the fresh food served in campus dining halls.

F&ES dean James Gustave “Gus” Speth notes, “It will be Yale’s most green building, a symbol of the school’s ideals and values, and a powerful expression in beautiful form of our relationship to the environment. It will be an inspirational and instructional model of sustainable design.”

The 60,000-square-foot building, which will be named to honor Yale alumnus RichardE. Kroon ’64, will promote energy efficiency and climate neutrality. Tapping solar energy to meet a portion of its energy needs, it will also minimize energy usage, use waste as a resource, incorporate natural lighting and ventilation, and use recycled, recyclable, sustainably harvested and manufactured, and non-toxic building materials.

“Hopkins is one of only a few firms in the world that combines the two dimensions of sustainability—low-impact design, which minimizes adverse effects on the natural environment like carbon emissions, waste, and pollution; and positive environmental design, which maximizes the physical and mental health and productivity of people by connecting them to the natural environment through a built environment,” says Stephen Kellert, the Tweedy/Ordway Professor of Social Ecology and chair of the F&ES building committee.

As part of its green agenda, Yale aims to increase the efficiency and reduce the emissions of its bus fleet.

The Kroon building will have classrooms, a library, faculty offices, administrative offices, and generous space for meetings, lectures, and conferences.

The building will be part of Science Hill, a 32-acre slice of the northern campus, where Yale has undertaken an ambitious effort to redevelop the physical and biological sciences.

The project also will be connected to the redevelopment of Sachem’s Wood, a major campus open space adjacent to Sage Hall, the main administrative building for F&ES. Renderings are available online.