In November 2009, Furman University put the “Sustainability Master Plan” into action to achieve it’s goal of meeting all of the LEED sustainability requirements for the Charles H. Townes Center for Science building. The LEED sustainability requirements are basically guidelines to making buildings more sustainable and having less of an impact on the Earth. For example, the big window in Hipp Hall is a LEED sustainability feature because it allows a certain amount of sunlight and heat to enter the building such that less heat and electricity needs to be generated.
A comparison of alternate waste treatment systems quickly established that “The Living Machine” was the most energy efficient form of waste management with the lowest life cycle costs. It works by pumping five thousand gallons of wastewater from a campus sewer into tanks underneath the greenhouse outside of Plyler Hall. The wastewater is then cycled between different cells where it is oxygenated. The nutrients from the wastewater allows for abnormally large plants to be grown and studied by Furman students and professors. After this water is cycled through, it is treated and disinfected by UV light and then reused inside the Townes Center for toilet flushing.