A Sustainable Community: Revitalizing, Renewing and Preserving the Environment

UNC Asheville is committed to preserving the natural heritage of the mountain region and advancing the health and well-being of citizens. The North Carolina Center for Health and Wellness, scheduled to open in 2010 as a unique academic and outreach initiative, will house the new Health and Wellness Promotion major and Kimmel Arena where athletics and recreational events will take place. When it opens late in the decade, the Craft Campus will return the former Buncombe County landfill to productive use as craft studios, classrooms and a model “green” facility, using landfill gases as an energy source. The Environmental Quality Institute conducts research on lead, arsenic, mercury and other environmental exposures to the public. Since 1986, the EQI has obtained more than $5 million for grant-funded projects, making it one of the nation’s largest repositories of lead contamination data.

“Green” buildings financed by a $50 million investment from the 2000 Higher Education Bond program include: New Hall classroom building, where geothermal heating and cooling systems are estimated to reduce energy costs by $17,000 a year; the Steve and Frosene Zeis Science and Multimedia Building, designed with advanced storm-water management, water-efficient landscaping and natural light; and the Samuel J. Millar Facilities Management Complex, under construction with a “green” roof, rainwater catchment and groundwater recharge systems, passive- and active-solar heating, and geothermal heating and cooling.