Tag Archives | brownfields

Turning Brownfields Green

By on April 9, 2012 in Adaptive Reuse, APUS Sustainability Efforts, Brownfields, Green-Building, LEED Building, Sustainability in Higher Education

by Angela Crone

We’ve been talking a lot lately about the adaptive reuse and green new construction on the American Public University System (APUS) campus in Charles Town, WV. So, yes, we know that many of the buildings are green retrofits, that solar installations are estimated to offset 350 tons of carbon each year, that the appliances are Energy Star certified, and that the faucets and toilets conserve water.  But, did you know that both the recently constructed Academics Center and the under-construction Finance Center are built on what has been designated a “brownfields site?” 

The U.S.… Read the rest

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Ready or Not, Here It Comes: Fracking in the Marcellus Shale

By on April 18, 2011 in Current Events, Sustainability General, Sustainability in Business

by Wesley Holmes, LEED Green Associate, Environmental Policy Analyst and Sustainability Consultant

Wesley Holmes earned his Masters of Science degree in Environmental Policy and Management from APU in February 2010, graduating with honors.  For his final project, Wesley began researching the green elements associated with APUS’ new Academic Center which is anticipated to receive LEED Gold certification later this year. As part of that project, Wesley created the APUS Green Building Blog which he maintains on a regular basis.  The blog is full of information related to the APUS Academic Center, green building in general, and Brownfields sites in particular.  Earlier this month Wesley attended the National Brownfields Conference in Philadelphia and submitted the following article for publication on the APUS Sustainability Blog.… Read the rest

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APUS Opens Green Building

By on November 18, 2010 in APUS Sustainability Efforts, LEED Building, Sustainability in Higher Education

by Beth Gray

This morning American Public University System (APUS) held the ribbon cutting event for its fifteenth building in downtown Charles Town, West Virginia.  The building is a 45,000 square foot, state-of-the-art, environmentally friendly building which is anticipated to receive the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED Gold certification. 

 The building is constructed on a site designated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) as a brownfields, a site which, due to previous uses, may contain various contaminants.  The site on which APUS chose to construct its building was previously used as an industrial scrap yard; various contaminants were found in the soil at the site including lead and petroleum products.  The contaminants were removed from the soil prior to construction.  In total, the university system removed 36 tons of soil from the property before beginning the construction process.… Read the rest

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Green Remediation Conference Kicks off in Amherst

By on June 15, 2010 in Uncategorized

BY: Wesley Holmes

Today marks the beginning of the Green Remediation Conference at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. The conference is providing professionals from around the country a terrific opportunity to discuss the state of green remediation strategies and technologies and their role in shaping future development. Camera in hand, I will be there to learn all I can about the latest and greatest in green remediation and bring it back for the APUS community. But APUS isn’t just a spectator at this conference.… Read the rest

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SS Credit 3: Brownfield Redevelopment

By on January 12, 2010 in Environmental Protection, Uncategorized

1 Point: Intent

To rehabilitate damaged sites where development is complicated by environmental contamination and to reduce pressure on undeveloped land. 

As we discussed in Sustainable Sites (SS) Credit 1: Site Selection, the USGBC encourages developers to concentrate new development projects in areas that have already been altered from their natural state and preserve existing Greenfields. Greenfields are sites where natural features have not been developed. SS Credit 3, Brownfield Redevelopment, ups the ante and urges developers to build on land that not only has been previously developed, but as a result of its past use is now contaminated.… Read the rest

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