B.C. daycare centre angles for ‘world’s greenest’ status

Sustainability is child's play at a B.C. daycare that has recently been designated the "world's greenest" by a top environmental advocate.

As CTV News reports, the UniverCity Childcare centre on the Simon Fraser University campus in Burnaby, B.C. is the first in Canada to meet the "Living Building Challenge" — a set of advanced criteria that measure everything from water and energy independence to use of local-only materials and aesthetic design.

"They would be the world's first living daycare, and by definition, the greenest daycare on the planet," Living Building Challenge author Jason McLennan said of the new facility.

The $3-million centre is powered entirely by geothermal technology, a system that moves heat energy to and from the earth to heat and cool indoor environments. All the building's materials — from the deck made of recycled plastic to the wood on the walls — are comprised of local materials sourced from within a 500 km radius.

A storm gutter catches rainwater, which is then treated and reused. No water or hydro bills required, as the centre also treats its own wastewater on site.

University brass can also expect to turn a profit from saving the planet. Though prices are on par with other area daycares, the savings accrued from the intelligent and sustainable design are projected to eventually bring in money for the school.

"A childcare center of this size in another municipality would be, we think, at a 15 - 20% higher cost," Gordon Harris of SFU Community Trust told CTV.

Drew Jenkins, whose children are enrolled in the daycare, told the news network he's happy with what he's seen so far.

"I think it's a neat building, it's a neat philosophy behind the centre, so we're just excited to be here," he said, adding that it was important to him that his children start learning good environmental values at an early age.

And if the best way to learn is through play, daycare denizens will likely be too busy on the facility's giant log climber, pole forest, and or running around its woven willow huts to realize how the importance of what they're absorbing.