The Hansen Agriculture Student Learning Center is the most recent Leadership in Environmental and Energy Design certified building on campus, marking Iowa State’s ninth environmentally friendly certified building.

Kerry Dixon, coordinator of Sustainable Design and Construction, helped with the detailed paperwork to push the certification through. Leadership in Environmental and Energy Design, LEED, is part of the U.S. Green Building Council.

“It is a really huge accomplishment for us to meet our goal of getting the Gold certification,” Dixon said. “It’s a really big deal.”

The certification process looks at transportation to and from facilities, which gives buildings on campus an advantage. Because the Hansen Learning Center is not on Central Campus, it is difficult to earn one of the higher LEED certifications.

The process looks at a variety of sustainable practices when deciding the level of certification, including energy and water consumption, materials that went into building, recycling capability and heating and cooling.

“It’s real energy efficient,” said Marshall Ruble, manager of the Hansen Agriculture Student Learning Center.

White cement, which is not supposed to emit as much heat, was used to make the parking lot, Ruble said.

Ruble realizes the importance of sustainability, especially considering the popularity of the building.

“The way our sinks and toilets flush we use about 40 percent less water of other facilities,” Ruble said. “When you have 10,000 people coming through here in two weeks, that’s a lot of flushes.”

There are several other sustainable practices that Hansen adopted to achieve its certification level.

“We take any of the waste material from the livestock down to our compost facility,” Ruble said. “Once they’re done with that, a lot of that compost is put around new buildings and new lawns, fertilization to make things better for campus.”

The Hansen Center was the first building to use a geothermal system, lowering energy costs substantially. Ruble said the building cost $7.7 million to complete and is something students and staff are proud of.

While initial costs of the  building are most likely higher than a traditional building, Iowa State prioritized the long-term benefits.

“It’s a little more expensive but in the long run it will pay off,” Ruble said. “The geothermal, for example, should pay for itself in three years.”

More than 41 percent of building materials were sourced within a 500-mile radius. That figure is one of the highest for any building across campus and means that sustainable resources can be found close by.

Dixon said Hansen is a unique building and is valuable for the animal science program, as well as the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.

“It’s easy to transport Iowa State’s livestock collection to,” Dixon said. “It’s a great location for that building.”

Before the Hansen Center was built, many events involving livestock took place on campus in Kildee. Hansen allows for easier access to facilitate larger events.

The LEED certification goes beyond recognizing efficiently designed buildings.

“It gives us some very measurable indicators of how the building should be expected to perform,” Dixon said. “This is the most widely accepted evaluation tool when evaluating green building design and construction.”

Buildings such as the Hansen Center and eight other LEED certified buildings on campus are meant to last for decades.

“The buildings we use and the campus we have are going to be here much longer than you and we need to last generations,” Dixon said. “The buildings we are building now are buildings that people like to be in and succeed in.”

According to studies, students with classes in LEED certified buildings have higher test scores, performance is better and attendance is up.

“We spend a huge percent of our time in a building, we may as well enjoy it,” Dixon said.