Crissy Field Center, the environmental education facility located in the Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA), celebrated its 10th anniversary last year. In January 2012, the center marked its second year in their interim facility located in the parking lot of Crissy Field’s East Beach. The state-of-the-art building, which also houses the Beach Hut Cafe, has already earned green building awards from California Construction magazine and the National Park Service.

The East Beach facility’s sustainable features may be award winning, but few are obvious to the casual observer. Green building elements include a solar reflective roof; high-performance wall and window panels; maximized natural lighting; and building materials made from recycled, repurposed and sustainably harvested resources.

Technological systems include solar thermal water heating, solar power panels, and a 2,500-gallon rainwater capture system that funnels and filters rainwater for use in the building’s toilets and urinals.

In mid-February, the last elements needed to apply for LEED Platinum level certificatiion – the highest green certification award – will be in place, and these will be hard to miss. Five vertical wind turbines of various styles are being installed along the pathway in front of the Crissy Field Center.

This pilot energy-generation program is being funded by a grant from the Hawaii Natural Energy Institute as part of their research into renewable energy systems for the Office of Naval Research. Installation will include an integrated monitoring system that will document the building’s energy use, the energy generated by the wind turbines, and indoor and outdoor environmental air quality. A custom-designed dashboard created by the building designers, Project Frog, will provide the data in real time for both public display and for use by students enrolled in Crissy Field Center’s learning programs.

The equipment and the data it produces will also help educate the community about options available for local power generation with small-scale wind turbines. Data may also help other parks and municipalities determine whether wind-generated power is a feasible option.

A free electric car charging station is also being installed in the East Beach parking lot in February. Adopt-a-Charger, in collaboration with the National Park Service, the Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy, and the National Parks Conservation Association, has funded this pilot program for three years to help support the use of plug-in vehicles.

Crissy Field Center’s move to East Beach was made necessary by the Doyle Drive reconstruction project adjacent to the program’s original building at Mason and Halleck Streets in the Presidio. The addition of vertical wind turbines was mentioned as a possibility in the 2009 environmental impact statement (EIS) developed for the proposed interim facility, but no specific locations or models were included in the report. The National Park Service received only four comment letters during the EIS review period, and no concerns were directed toward the plan to incorporate future vertical wind turbines.

When asked whether additional public notification had been done when the plans were finalized, Alexandra Picavet of the GGNRA’s public affairs office said, “The park service did do more compliance checks once they were closer to installing the turbines. They were actually slated to be installed late last summer, but newer park management who had not been involved in the 2009 analysis wanted to take another look at it and wanted to confirm the initial findings.” Construction of the base supports and mechanical infrastructure began in early January and installation should be complete by mid-February. Students from Oceana High School in Pacifica, who will also be monitoring the project’s energy efficiency as part of a school project, will help lift the wind turbines into place.

The 2009 EIS also confirmed that the East Beach facility “is temporary and would be used for the duration of the Doyle Drive construction. The National Park Service has committed to removing the temporary facility and restoring the site once the existing Crissy Field Center building is available to be reoccupied.” Once the East Beach buildings are removed, the disposition of the wind turbines has not been determined, according to Picavet. “Once the buildings are gone, though, there’s nothing to create energy for,” she pointed out.