LIVING GREEN
ENERGY
SMART BUILDING
48
ED DRONDOSKI
The new Brown Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Indian River State College is constructed to demonstrate the energy efficiency technology
that students are learning inside. The building is 30 percent powered by energy from the wind and sun.
The new Brown Center on the IRSC campus
is both a model of energy efficiency and
a hub for learning about it
BY SUSAN BURGESS
The gleaming new “green” building at Indian River
State College pulses with energy — from students,
from faculty, from excitement at being on
the cutting edge and from the building’s alternative
energy sources: sun and wind.
“The Brown Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship
is another piece of our long-term mission, which started in
the 1990s to place a lot of emphasis on science,” says college
President Dr. Edwin Massey.
Students will be working in labs fitted with the latest in
equipment, able to take on energy-related projects that would
be impossible in more conventional buildings that weren’t
built with them in mind. One shining example is the sustainable
building design lab where students can work indoors on
a full-size portable house.
The $21.5 million building on the main campus is named
for Mike and Mimi Brown of Fort Pierce in recognition of
their long-standing commitment to IRSC and education. It
opened for classes on Jan. 5. A grand opening, which will
give the public a chance to try out some of its technology, will
be on April 11.
“We have emphasized health, technology and public safety,
so this building adds to the footprint of the college and opens
an avenue for training and applied technology in the clean
energy sector,” Massey says. “We have to become more aware
of natural resources and how to create a more sustainable
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