Like many other major cities around the world, Boston aims to become carbon neutral by 2050. To give the city a sustainability boost, Boston University is erecting the city’s largest carbon-neutral, fossil-fuel-free building right on its campus.
BU’s new Center for Computing and Data Sciences, designed by KPMB Architects, will include a bevy of environmentally friendly initiatives. The 19-story building will be carbon neutral and fossil fuel-free, with no gas lines connected to the building. Instead, 31 geothermal wells, each 1,500 feet deep, will heat and cool the system via ground-source heat exchange.
The building has also integrated some climate adaptation strategies such as raising its first floor two feet about the elevation of possible flooding from the nearby river. The building is also five feet higher than the city’s suggested level to protect against sea-level rise.
For its electricity, the center will not be directly powered by renewable energy, but BU will match this building’s electricity load with green electricity generated by a wind farm in South Dakota, where the university invested in renewable energy.
Its energy use is also expected to achieve next-level efficiency due to the smart way its windows are designed. The window system includes three layers of glass to trap heat inside during winter, while the building’s exterior will have fixed shades, thanks to diagonal and vertical slats called louvers, that shield the inside of the building from the sun’s heat in the summertime.
The construction sets a marker for other institutions to follow, and represents an ambitious step towards transitioning the university and the city at large to a greener future.
