Green STEM Tour to visit Knoch Knolls Nature Center Feb. 27
Middle school and high school teachers from DuPage County will visit Knoch Knolls Nature Center on Friday, Feb. 27 from 10:30-11:30 a.m. as part of an all-day workshop by SCARCE (School and Community Assistance for Recycling and Composting Education), a Glen Ellyn based nonprofit organization.
The tour will be the first since the Naperville Park District received notice in mid-February that the Knoch Knolls Nature Center achieved LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Platinum certification by the U.S. Green Building Council.
The tour is part of the GREEN STEM: Energy Conservation Green Building Teacher Workshop which is funded by the DuPage County Environmental Committee. The workshop will include stops at other area LEED facilities such as Argonne Laboratories. Teachers will learn about LEED standards, emerging careers in the environmental and energy field, and about the energy bike and other educational resources at SCARCE headquarters that they can use in their classrooms.
"We are excited to bring teachers to Knoch Knolls Nature Center to see the on-site renewable energy system and the creative ways that the facility incorporates sustainable materials, water conservation, and other green building design features," said Kay McKeen, executive director of SCARCE.
SCARCE offers several workshops for teachers to help enrich STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) education.
The Naperville Park District opened Knoch Knolls Nature Center in October 2014. The Nature Center hosts nature preschool and other environmental programs and is free and open daily to the public for drop-in visits. Key sustainable features of the building include a 1,400-gallon cistern that collects water from the roof for reuse in the plumbing system, photovoltaic panels, a green roof, and a permeable paver parking lot.
Scoring 83 points on the LEED checklist, Knoch Knolls Nature Center is the first LEED Platinum building in Naperville.
Funding for the solar panels and energy efficient features was provided, in part, by a grant from the Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation.