Tom Damm is a public affairs specialist with the EPA at the Chesapeake Bay Program.
I couldn’t pass up the recent chance to join colleagues from
the Chesapeake Bay Program for a short road trip to witness the art of the
possible.
Just down the road from Fort
Meade in Maryland is an office building that is incorporating
the latest in green construction techniques.
It’s called the EnviroCenter,
and for good reason. It’s a showcase for ways to protect the environment by
harnessing nature – from drawing the energy of the sun to reusing the rain from
a storm.
The first clue that innovation was afoot at this converted
1905 farmhouse was the lack of puddles as we pulled into the driveway on a miserably
rainy day. A downspout from its green roof was feeding stormwater
directly into a lineup of storage containers, and rain was being sucked up by
the property’s absorbent surfaces.
With expansion plans in the works that will add a range of
new environmental features, the EnviroCenter will even be able to capture
stormwater gushing down the highway in front of the building – doing more than
its share to corral one of the biggest nemeses of the Chesapeake
Bay.
Stormwater carries pollutants and dirt from hard
surfaces directly into streams and rivers, fouling the water and the
habitat needed by fish and other Bay-dwellers.
The Bay Program is about to launch something called the “No
Runoff Challenge” to promote no stormwater runoff from properties. The
EnviroCenter is expected to do it one better and actually achieve negative
runoff.
Stan Sersen, architect and owner of the EnviroCenter, gave
us gawkers a tour of the facility, highlighting the practice-what-we-preach
aspects of the construction. He also showed us plans for an attached 7,000-square-foot
greenhouse that will allow office tenants to grow their own organic fruits and
veggies.
If you have the time, check out the EnviroCenter and its non-profit
Green Building Institute to
learn about sustainable building practices.