New York's Golisano Institute recognized for new building

Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) has been certified as “LEED Platinum” by USA’s Green Building Council for its new Golisano Institute of Sustainability building in upper New York state.

The Golisano building is one of the world’s foremost centers for the development of remanufacturing methods and processes. The Green Building Council call the building a ‘living laboratory’ for the sustainability movement with particular emphasis on the creation of innovative sustainability systems during the building’s design and construction.

The key sustainability features of the new building include a high-performance building envelope made up of several varieties of glass that allow daylight to enter with minimal heat exchange; a sunshade system that reduces heat gain inside the building and permits a more passive cooling system; 144 roof-mounted solar panels capable of generating 45,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity annually; a mico-grid that inputs wind and solar energy into the building; a green roof, and vertical axis wind turbines.

“LEED Platinum is a significant accomplishment for our multi-story research building, particularly given that it is such an energy-intensive facility combined with our challenging climate here in Western New York,” said Nabil Nasr, associate provost and director of GIS. “We are especially proud that our building dedicated to sustainability has earned such a rare accomplishment, which required tremendous teamwork. I salute our building partners.”