precent: animal shelters going green

I found this website [http://network.bestfriends.org/bfnvolunteers/news/22232.html ] that talks about different animal shelters all over the country who are building "green". They talked about what they were changing in order to achieve LEED status. Many of the things were common practices that Ive heard of like: Parking lot waste water management, Wind turbines to generate electricity, natural daylighting, motion detectors to turn of lights that are't in use, low/no voc paints, placing new building on the older building's footprint, sloped roof for collecting water in cistern, and green rooves.
Some interesting points I saw were:
At the Dearborn Michigan Animal Shelter the designers created small dog bungalows made mosty of recycled materials ( replacing the old chain-link fence dog runs). Middle Town Rhode Island Potter Leauge used radient heat flooring so that it would keep the dogs warm during winter. The Humane Society of Silicone Valley flushes solid wastes rather than trashing them in order to ensure there is no soil or ground water contamination. They want their shelter to become more of a "destination" , which is a goal of mine as well. They have a coffee bar, snack bar, and dog park. The Dorothy and Roy Park Pet Adoption Center in Ithica NY has a Dog playroom with the flooring being made out of recycled tires.




example of the old shelters


example of the new style of green shelters


photos courtesty of: http://network.bestfriends.org/bfnvolunteers/news/22232.html