The EcoCenter at Heron's Head Park:
Where Learning Comes Alive
The EcoCenter has been recognized with a US EPA Environmental Justice Achievement Award
The EcoCenter IS OPEN for public programs and community rentals. Download the rental packet.
Contact the EcoCenter Rental Coordinator if you have questions or need further information about the EcoCenter.
The EcoCenter at Heron's Head Park is the first environmental justice education facility in the Bay Area and San Francisco's first 100% “off-grid” building, modeling solar power and alternative wastewater technologies. Nearly every feature of this 1,500-square-foot facility is innovative and used to educate the public about renewable energy, pollution and greenhouse gas reduction, wastewater treatment, “green” building materials, and the green economy.
The EcoCenter is:
Helping to create an empowered and eco-literate youth corps in southeast San Francisco
Making a positive impact on the environmental, public, and economic health of southeast San Francisco
Providing an inspiring model for green building and environmental education in EJ communities
Green Building Features
- Eco Machine wastewater treatment. This series of wetland cells and ultraviolet sterilization lamps treat wastewater and recycle treated water for landscape irrigation.
- A Green Living Roof to reduce building needs for heating and cooling, provide retention of stormwater on site for reuse, reduce heat island effect of building on site, and encourage wildlife habitat.
- Solar panels and wind turbine to meet all electricity demands of the building.
- Structurally Insulated Panels (SIPs) that provide high energy efficiency and strength in the walls and roof as well as seismic support and fire resistance.
- Native landscaping to help promote water conservation, the elimination of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, and encourage education around native plant propagation.
To learn more about the EcoCenter's low impact design features that help reduce the building's water footprint, download this factsheet (.pdf).
Thank you!!!
...to everyone who made this project possible. It took more than 10 years of community-based, intergovernmental, and multi-industry partnerships to give life and integrity to the EcoCenter. We couldn't have done it without you!
Designed by Toby Long Design, the EcoCenter is a collaborative project between Literacy for Environmental Justice, the Port of San Francisco, San Francisco Environment, and the State Coastal Conservancy.
Project Partners:
Port of San Francisco
San Francisco Department of the Environment
San Francisco Department of Public Health
Toby Long Design/Clever Homes
Habitat Gardens
Occidental Power
Lorax Development
Eckman Environmental Corp.
H20 Envirotech
Industry Partners:
Bode Concrete
Fulcrum Structural Engineering
Heliodyne
Ryan Engineering
Urban Ore, Berkeley
Sylvania Lights
Warm Homes
Waste Solutions
Funding Partners:
San Francisco Department of the Environment
State Coastal Conservancy
State Water Resources Control Board
Pacific Forest and Watershed Lands Stewardship Council
Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund
The Live Oak Fund of Horizons Foundation
Mitchell Kapor Foundation
Walter & Elise Haas Fund
S. H. Cowell Foundation
Flora Family Foundation
Morris Stulsaft Foundation
San Francisco Community Challenge Grant Program
Adobe Foundation Fund of Silicon Valley Community Foundation
Bothin Foundation
Rose Foundation for Communities and the Environment
Numerous private individuals
Community Volunteer Partners:
Bayview Mobilization for Adolescent Growth in Our Communities (BMAGIC)
College Track
Communities in Harmony Advocating for Learning and Kids (CHALK)
Rebuilding Together San Francisco
Salesforce.com
Countless additional community organizations, individual volunteers, and friends of Heron's Head Park
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