Great Lakes Maritime Heritage Center (Alpena, MI)

Department of Commerce

NOAA's 20,000sf Great Lakes Maritime Heritage Center is the new headquarters for the Thunder Bay National Marine Sanctuary. This visitors center features a theater, exhibit space, a distance learning classroom, an artifact conservation laboratory, and education and research facilities. Efficiency improvements such as a geothermal HVAC system and waterless toilets help the Center reduce energy consumption by 35 percent and water consumption by 48 percent over a typical building. The high performance building is on track to become a Gold Certified Leadership in Environmental and Energy Design (LEED™) facility by the U.S. Green Building Council.