Students learn to go green in new NSCC wing

First-year carpentry student Rebecca Zowlkower says a new, environmentally responsible building on the Nova Scotia Community College’s waterfront campus promotes green construction methods. (Lily Ames photo)

In a new wing at the waterfront campus of the Nova Scotia Community College, students are encouraged to work through a green lens. The new wing opened two weeks before it filled up with students from 13 different trades and technologies programs for the 2010 fall semester.

The new addition to the school's Centre for Built Environment is adorned with green features that are as symbolic as they are practical. The wing is completely self-sufficient and powered by solar panels and wind turbines. It even uses the rainwater collected on the roof as an irrigation system for the school's plant life.

The more symbolic attributes are the "living walls" - two interior and one exterior. The inside walls are large, floor-to-ceiling patches of hydroponic plants. Don Jardine, academic chair of environment and sustainability, says they offer a cooling effect, research opportunities for students and are symbolic of the school's environmental stewardship.

"The walls are iconic piece, they represent a harmony between the natural environment and built environment," says Jardine.

The building's architecture, with its big open spaces, allows students from the trade and technology programs to work together as they will after graduation.

"On any given project the carpenter interacts with the electrician, with the draftsperson, construction manager and so on," says Jardine.

The walls are an example of one of the green features that the students can interact with to promote sustainability in their trade work.

Rebecca Zowlkower, a first-year carpentry student, says that although not all of the students know the purpose of the living walls, there is no escaping the sense of sustainable leadership the school environment provides.

Zowlkower's focus is on green building- "everything from recycling materials to making a home as efficient as possible. This includes placement of windows to maximize sunlight, and building a house where the water drains away."

Mark Scott, who teaches carpentry at the college, explains that going green is important for the future of the planet and is more cost-effective. "Carpenters have been advocates of green for years."

The carpentry trade is more efficient if fewer materials go into a finished product, he explains, and out of those materials used, none should be wasted.

Zowlkower says that both the curriculum and the tools the new wing provides promote green building that is exciting for the future of the trades.

"As far as building goes, green is the only way to go, because it is so easy to build with recyclable materials and it is so easy to harness our natural resources. But it hasn't been done because it hasn't been taught that way, and having this building and the emphasis on environmental sustainability will allow people to start building in a greener way."

Greening the trades is both a responsible move for the future of the planet and, as Zowlkower explains, "a no-brainer."

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