Climate Sustainability Center

Climate Sustainability Center vision

The Climate Sustainability Center will serve as both a regional resource and national model in developing a sustainable workforce for green collar jobs in the 21st century, providing opportunities for world-class research in renewable energy and featuring a botanical garden with an emphasis on research and education in urban agriculture.

Research The Center will provide educational, research and incubator space for the development of energy-related, material and environmental building and site applications. Research will focus on services and products for government sector, entrepreneurial and small business development opportunities.

Located in the heart of urban Kansas City, Missouri in the nationally recognized Green Impact Zone, the Center provides a strategic opportunity to further research and sustainability objectives of the University of MissouriKansas City, while facilitating technology transfer and business accelerator opportunities.

• Sustainable Materials: Including recycled wastes and nanotechnologies impacting the built environment

• Renewable Energy: Study to include sources (biomass, solar, wind, fuel cell), storage (ultra capacitors, batteries, pumped hydro) and connections to KCP&L Smart Grid • Urban Health Issues: Focusing on bioinformatics, enviroinformatics, public health research and sustainable health care • Air and Water Quality: Testing of green solutions, including sustainable materials, building systems and nanotechnologies in on-site environmental chambers

Green Jobs Curriculum, including classroom, laboratory and workshop programs, will be established by job providers and educational partners, providing hands-on training and employment opportunities to students, graduates and the community.

The Center’s operation and programs will provide a centralized location for uniting the area’s educational and job training efforts into a highly productive, practical curriculum of environmental skill sets and learning for both the college-bound and non-college bound students, as well as the underemployed citizens of the Kansas City region.

• STEM Events: Engaging K-12 programs and high school research opportunities, as well as university undergraduate and graduate research

• Hands-on Training: Green technologies for homes, green strategies for neighborhoods, connection to the neighborhood Smart Grid, biomass collection and use, and recycling programs • Demonstrations: Hands-on exhibits showing green innovations such as “living building” methodologies and technologies, urban agriculture and other scalable green solutions

Botanical Garden A cutting edge, hands-on botanical garden and urban agriculture research facility will provide opportunities for scientists, students and the community to cultivate, tend, harvest and document a wide variety of plants, including those native to the area, strengthening connections to existing and future community programs.

This urban botanical garden will be a national model for local and regional populations, focusing on the productive benefits of plants in sustainable communities. On-going demonstrations include building wastewater treatment, sustainable rainwater capture and irrigation. Outdoor green roofs, vertical farms and food forest demonstrations will highlight the food production capacity of urban agriculture.

• Urban Agriculture: Addressing access to healthy foods, local production, education on healthy diets and related green job opportunities • Community Kitchen: Serving community needs and expanding education of healthy eating in the urban core • Conservatory and Learning Library: Resources to promote awareness of regional solutions, backyard strategies for stormwater runoff and food production

Climate Sustainability Center

buildings account for

38% of all co2 emissions in the united states - more than all transportation activity combined a national renewable energy standard of 25% by 2025 would create

EIA, Department of Energy

297,000 new green jobs and lower energy bills by $64.3 billion Union of Concerned Scientists

80% of the nation’s population now lives in metropolitan areas US Geological Survey

A

C

d

E

A Solar Panels B Botanical Garden C Rainwater Collection D University Research E Business Incubator F Water Cleaning System G Urban Agriculture H Public Forum I Technology Transfer/ Training

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b

f

G

H

I

Energy The Center will support cutting-edge research in renewable energy and building technologies that support energyefficiency in the built environment for existing and new buildings at various scales of development.

urban development Located in the urban heart of Kansas City in the nationally recognized Green Impact Zone, the Center will focus its research, training and botanical garden programs on urban solutions that catalyze area development.

commerce All aspects of the building, site and program will facilitate the development of environmentallyfriendly applications and products for the emerging green economy of the 21st century.

neighborhood revitalization Identified as the “seed” for the local community’s rebirth, the Center will showcase residential, neighborhood, business and research collaborations that catalyze the rebuilding of sustainable infrastructure.

agriculture

healthy communities

Building upon rural agricultural research programs in the region, the Center will house research and community training programs that demonstrate urban agriculture strategies on-site, including green roofs, vertical farming & food forests.

All aspects of the Center— its research, education, job training, and a handson botanical garden — will support the creation and maintenance of healthy, walkable and safe communities within an urban environment.

environment Technology-based programming and a world-class Decision Theater will facilitate international collaborations on issues of climate, energy, air and water quality, providing a unique focus on urban environmental health and quality of life.

food Demonstrations of urban agriculture as part of the hands-on edible botanical garden, along with community kitchen facilities, will be used to re-introduce healthy diets into the life of the urban core.

labor Working in concert with labor and government training programs and universities and community colleges, the Center will support green collar workforce development through research and training.

transportation Located along a new rapid transit line in Kansas City, the Center will highlight the benefits of public transit and walkable communities.

The Climate Sustainability Center meets people where they ARE and takes them to where they want to GO. Whether you are: • a child in a science program or • a scientist studying water or Where do • an entrepreneur with an idea you want to

go?

For additional information, please contact the office of Congressman Emanuel Cleaver, II at 816.842.4545 or visit our website at climatesustainabilitycenter.wordpress.com

climate sustainability center A National Model. A Regional Resource.