Just outside of Peterborough Ontario (approximately 1.5 hours from Toronto) sits the newly built Camp Kawartha Environment Centre. The 2,000 square foot building is nestled on more than 200 acres of Trent University’s wildlife sanctuary lands. Building the structure was a very personal experience for students in Fleming College’s Sustainable Building Design and Construction program – they designed and built the facility!
According to program coordinator and award winning sustainable builder Chris Magwood, the facility is “one of Canada’s most sustainable buildings”.
The team used innovative green architecture to design the facility, and used a variety of green building techniques and products to erect the building including straw bale walls, hempcrete and straw slip insulation, composting toilets, geothermal heating and radiant flooring, a living green roof, solar-heated water, and the province’s only thatch roof. In addition, grid-tied solar panels have been incorporated which should produce more energy than the building will use.
While the project provided a one-of-a-kind, hands on learning opportunity for the students, the facility itself will be used to deliver environmental programming to schools in the region. The centre will also run workshops for local teachers to then incorporate the information into their curriculum, and student teacher candidates in environmental education at Trent University. The general public also benefits by being able to tour this sustainable structure, and learn about cleaner, greener ways of living.
Designed to accommodate up to 80 people at a time, the school will be open year round. Some examples of the programs to be offered include: climate change; your ecological footprint; species at risk; water quality; air quality; diversity; habitat; alternative energy: living beyond fossil fuels; and sustainable building, sustainable living.
For more information on the centre, please visit http://campkawartha.ca/environmentcentre/index.htm
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