Green Thursday: It's all happening at the Zoo

The Zoological Society's Karen Peck Katz Conservation Education Center at the Milwaukee County Zoo is no ordinary education building. It's a conservation education building, where all the workshops are concentrated on science-based curriculum and environmental awareness. So, it only makes sense that the very materials the building was constructed with fit within the same earth-friendly guidelines that the programs do.


WKTI hangin' out at Zoo ala Carte

A major part of the building's environmental success is its incorporation of Wisconsin's Focus on Energy program. The classrooms are filled with natural light from several windows with direct western exposure. Classrooms also have special lighting features, such as strategic switching of daylight controls. Each room has both an occupancy sensor and an "auto off" switch that control light fixtures near the windows. When a room is not occupied, the sensor turns the lights and the "auto off" switch off. When the room is in use, the lights at the windows must then be manually turned on. The extra effort helps to ensure that these lights are used only when absolutely necessary.

Other energy efficiency tactics include the use of metal halide lamps, which incorporate what's known as "pulse-start technology." Simply speaking, this new technology offers a more reliable, and significantly longer, lamp life by revamping the ballast (the part that sends currents to the lamp and makes the light turn on). Another bonus is the lamp's enhanced ability to maintain consistent color temperature and performance, which results in vibrant displays and signs that won't appear washed out under bright lights.

The building also was designed with classrooms on only one side of each hallway (called a single-loaded corridor). This allows for direct natural light on each classroom's west side, and borrowed light from the day-lit corridor on the east side. This differs from typical schools with double-loaded corridors, or classrooms on both sides, resulting in dark, windowless hallways and a wider building. The building's narrower structure allows more natural ventilation, thanks to lots of screened windows. In most commercial buildings, the windows are fixed; so heating and cooling systems are almost always necessary. On nice days, opening a few windows is a natural and energy-efficient way to ventilate.

Not all the improvements are inside. Up on the roof, you won't find the usual barren black sea of tar or gravel. Instead, the space is covered with growing plants, an innovative method to reduce storm-water runoff to benefit the environment. The Zoo's horticulturists maintain the roof's plants, which are mostly sedums, low-growing succulents that don't require a lot of work. During heavy rainfall, these plants act as a gigantic sponge in the midst of a densely cemented area. By soaking up excess runoff, the foliage protects sewers from getting clogged, which can lead to untreated sewage discharging into the watershed.

Relatively cost-effective, these appropriately named "green roofs" are becoming a trend across the country, particularly in urban areas. Other "green roofs" in the area are the MMSD headquarters near downtown Milwaukee, and the Urban Ecology Center next to Riverside High School on Milwaukee's East Side. Garden roofs covered with numerous potted plants, such as the one atop Deborah Kern's Garden Room garden shop in Shorewood, accomplish some of the same environmental benefits.

Green roofs are also in the business of cooling things off. It's no secret that shiny, metal surfaces heat up fast under the sun. The "heat island effect" is what scientists call the generally higher temperatures in urban areas with many reflective buildings. Replace a reflective surface with lush greenery and heat will be absorbed when water from the plants evaporates, and surrounding temperatures decline.

Click HERE to find out about getting your own "green roof."

Every Green Thursday we post information vital to the survival of our planet.