The world became a little greener as Richmond-based design firm H&A Architects & Engineers promoted its new technologies on World Environment Day (June 5) in Geneva, Switzerland.
"This is really exciting because it is green innovation coming from the United States onto the world stage," says LaTonya Whitaker, H&A's creative marketing and brand strategist.
Contracted by the U.S. Department of State, H&A installed solar photovoltaic panels at the U.S. Mission to the United Nations in Geneva. It's the State Department's greenest facility and was named the Flagship Post for Energy and Sustainability by the State Department in 2005. The panels, which cost $1.6 million, provide solar-powered electricity and an environmentally friendly way to protect the building's façade from weather and deterioration.
H&A's magnetic-levitation cooling system, also displayed at the World Environment Day exhibition, is used in industrial refrigeration systems. H&A says its cooling system "creates energy savings, promotes a green building, and saves on installation and operational costs" while reducing by about 30 percent the amount of air conditioning required in the U.S. Mission in Geneva.
