Clean Energy to Power Madagascar Exhibition at Bronx Zoo Lion House

The New York Power Authority announced yesterday that it will install a fuel cell at the FXFOWLE-designed Lion House at the Bronx Zoo. The installation will offset 200 kilowatts of electrical demand at the landmarked, Beaux-Arts Lion House, which is on track for a LEED Gold rating from USGBC. The project broke ground back in 2006 and is part of a larger renovation of the Zoo’s Astor Court; the Lion House itself has remained vacant since the lions were moved outdoors almost twenty years ago.

An exhibition featuring wildlife native to the island of Madagascar will open up this summer and feature a thirteen-foot-long crocodile, as well as showcase efforts of the Wildlife Conservation Society to protect Madgascar’s natural environment. The fuel cell installation comes by way of a grant from NYPA (which also made a contribution to sponsor a future exhibition on lemurs) and joins a similar system already operating at the New York Aquarium. When the project officially receives its rating from USGBC, it will become the first landmarked building in New York City to earn any level of LEED certification.

The fuel cell will be the 28th either installed or announced for a project here in New York City. NYPA calls itself the “national leader” in the operation of clean fuel cells, with a combined operational capacity of 3.05 megawatts.

• Historic Renovation of Zoo’s Lion House Seeks LEED Gold (gbNYC)

• NYPA Supports Restoration of Lion House with Fuel Cell (FCW)

• Fuel Cells (NYPA Overview)

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