Whenever a new building opens on a college campus these days, it?s common for the institution to trumpet the facility?s many ?green? or ?sustainable? attributes. It?s not uncommon to read about new projects that take advantage of natural sources of light, use geothermal heating and cooling systems, implement high-tech, energy-efficiency controls and so on.
And while such ideas and technological advances are no doubt important, an interdisciplinary team of UW-Madison researchers earlier this month was awarded a federal grant to, in part, examine an oftentimes overlooked aspect of operating a green building — the folks who occupy the facility.