![\"cirs\"](\"http:\/\/l.yimg.com\/a\/feeds\/us\/grn\/green_ecogeek\/cirs.jpg\")
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The University of British Columbia is claiming the title of North America’s greenest building for its impressive $37 million Center for Interactive Research on Sustainability (CIRS<\/a>), currently under construction and to be completed in 2011.\u00a0 What makes this building the greenest?<\/p>\n According to UBC, it will be a net energy producer with fuel cells, a solar PV array, solar hot water heaters, ground source heat pumps and a biomass co-generation system on site.\u00a0 The building will collect, store and use rainwater and stormwater, so that it’s not only providing its own electricity needs, but all of its water needs as well.<\/p>\n CIRS will be a testing ground for sustainable building technologies and all activity, including energy use and human behavior within the building, will be logged.\u00a0 It will also host simulations and performances to educate the public on sustainability as part of its Group Decision Environment Theatre.<\/p>\n Sounds pretty amazing to me, but we’ll have to see how it stacks up when it’s completed to know if it’s truly the “greenest.”<\/p>\n