Sustainable Living building at MUM aims to meet four certification standards
by Global Good News staff writer

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12 March 2013

'It's a very ambitious building,' said Dr David Fisher, chair of the Sustainable Living department at Maharishi University of Management.

Dr Fisher gave a quick update to the progress of the Sustainable Living Center, a new building on the Maharishi University of Management campus that aims to be completely off-grid.

It is not just this goal that makes the building so ambitious, Dr Fisher explained. 'We wanted the building to meet the certification standards of four different building philosophies: LEED Platinum, Living Building Challenge, Building Biology (Baubiologie), and Maharishi Vedic architecture.'

Dr Fisher explained more about the university's aims to make the building off-grid. 'We want the building to be completely off-grid with regards to heating, cooling, electricity, water, and waste disposal.'

He added that some unique sustainable features of the building include daylighting throughout, often eliminating the need for electric lighting, and 'the walls are made from locally sourced, and I mean right across the street, compact earth.'

Currently, the building is still occasionally relying on the grid for backup power and waste disposal, but Dr Fisher pointed out that 'in terms of just being off-grid in all ways, as far as I know, [this] has never been accomplished by a commercial building in the world'.

There are homes around the world that are completely off the grid, 'but for a commercial building—offices, classrooms, and so forth—even a relatively small one like this, as far as I know it has never been accomplished,' Dr Fisher said.

'When our building gets that far, as far as I know, it'll be the first one.'

See previous articles in this series:
∙ Sustainable Living Center moves closer to full self-sufficiency
∙ Sustainable Living Center 'the most ambitious environmental building'
∙ New master's degrees in Sustainable Living to launch next year at MUM
∙ Popular Sustainable Living department to offer MA and MS degrees: Maharishi University of Management
∙ Sustainable Living Center truly local, community built
∙ Master's in Sustainable Living to provide community assistance, valuable skill set
∙ Sustainable Living Center self-sufficient for water, greenhouse soon finished

Copyright © 2013 Global Good News Service



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