Green, How About UltraGreen

NASA research center goes ultragreen

Feb 03, 2011 - Ceiling panels that cool the air? Windows and shades that open automatically? A constant LCD display of energy use? These are some of the nifty features in NASA's new lunar-shaped office building that opens this spring in Moffett Field, Calif.

Dubbed NASA's "latest mission on Earth," the building showcases innovations engineered for space travel. It has, for example, a forward-osmosis system that treats greywater (from restroom sinks and showers) and reuses it to flush toilets and urinals.

"They installed that system on the space station," says Steve Zornetzer, associate center director of NASA Ames Research Center, where the building is located, just south of Palo Alto. So, he asked, "Why can't we use that on planet Earth?" {continued}