Congratulations to the University of Colorado Boulder for achieving LEED Platinum status at their newest dining center, William’s Village. LEED, or Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, is a popular rating system for evaluating building projects on various aspects of sustainability. One unique earth-friendly feature of William’s Village Dining Center is a 3,000-square-foot greenhouse connected to the facility’s salad concept. The greenhouse is home to 127 aeroponic growing towers, with 44 growing “slots” per tower. This large vertical-growing garden produces micro-greens and herbs used at the salad bar and in recipes served at other Micro-Restaurants™ in the dining center. The salad concept has an observation window into the greenhouse where students can watch their ingredients grow and be harvested while they dine. The harvested crop is washed in a produce wash room that is strategically located between the greenhouse and salad concept.
Additional environmentally-smart technology at William’s Village includes: a biodigester that breaks down food waste into “grey water”; bicycles used to blend smoothies; and a cooking demonstration area with video monitors to provide wellness education to students. To learn more about CU Boulder’s Williams’ Village greenhouse and other high-tech aspects of the facility, follow these links to the following articles.
Click here for Article 1
Click here for Article 2
