Sustainable Living Center
`The University is now developing a Sustainable Living Center that will be the first building of its kind in the world. It will be used to teach students in the Sustainable Living program, and will serve as a model for the architecture of the future.
- The Sustainable Living Center will be built according to the principles of Vedic architecture, the most ancient and complete system of architecture in harmony with natural law.
- It will seek platinum LEED certification — the highest standard for sustainable green building.
- It will incorporate the principles of Bau-Biologie (building biology), which seeks to use natural building materials that are compatible with the human body, and to minimize exposure to volatile chemicals and house dust, mold and bacteria, natural and man-made electromagnetic field and radiation, and unsafe moisture and temperatures.
- It will be off the grid with respect to electricity, heating, cooling, water, and sewage disposal.
- The building will make extensive use of daylighting and other technologies to minimize energy requirements.
- Solar panels and a wind generator will be used to provide power.
- A rainwater catchment system will provide water, and waste will be processed naturally via an onsite “living machine.”
- With 6,400 square feet, the building will have a large classroom, a workshop, a south-facing greenhouse, a research lab, various offices and meeting rooms, and covered verandas on the east and west sides.