Greenest Museum In The World

The California Academy Of  Sciences in Golden Gate Park , San Francisco, is one of the greenest buildings in the world.  The roof contains over a million different species of plant life.  The green roof insulates the building, keeping it warm in the winter and cool in the summer.  When it rains, the roof absorbs the water, bringing life to the roof and preventing a whopping 3.6 million gallons of storm water from hitting the sewer systems.

Surrounding the roof is a glass canopy with a decorative band of 60,000 photovoltaic cells, providing 213,000 kilowatt hours of energy per year, preventing the release of 405,000 pounds of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.  The skylights in the roof open and close automatically to maintain a perfect temperature inside the building.  There are special humps on the roof which create a natural cool breeze that is diverted into the building. 

It cost half a billion dollars to complete this project .  The museum also contains it’s own rain forest and several aquariums.  They also have an albino gator in captivity and a living coral reef in a huge aquarium along with 4,000 fish.  Ocean water is pumped in from 2 and a half miles away.  It is filtered and warmed and pumped into the aquariums. There are hundreds of other energy saving systems in the building. 

Below are  some videos so you can see for yourself.

Kron 4 Newscast on the Museum:>

California Academy Of Sciences:>

California Academy Of Sciences Virtual Tour:>