The Mead Wildlife Area in central Wisconsin comprises approximately 28,000 acres in both Portage and Marathon Counties. It is located midway between Wausau, Stevens Point, Wisconsin Rapids and Marshfield. 

The building is pursuing a USGBC LEED Silver rating.  Click here to see the complete case study from the Thomas Brown, Architect website.

The WDNR website has their own case study as well as other info.  Click here to access their website 

The 6,208 square foot facility was designed as an example of sustainable and environmentally-responsible construction. The building shell has a high-performance exterior envelope, with special attention to air-sealing details and insulation levels. Materials were evaluated for their environmental impact and took into account local availability, recycled content, toxic components, durability and resource depletion. The facility incorporates the principles of cool daylighting  along with advanced lighting techniques and controls. 

The construction cost was approximately $1.5 Million, including the following renewable energy systems:

Geothermal ground-source heat pump heating & cooling

10 KW wind energy turbine on 100' tower

2.3 KW pole-mounted tracking solar photovoltaic electricity array

3-panel ground-mounted solar hot water collector array

Wood-fired central masonry biomass heater w/hydronic exchanger