California Academy of Science

5年のリニューアルを経て、9月末にリニューアルオープンしたカリフォルニア・アカデミー・オブ・サイエンス。
ゴルデンゲートパーク内にあります。
先日、職場で使っていない夏休み（有給休暇）があったので、さっそくいってきました。通常、入館料が25ドルもとられるそうですが、毎月第3水曜日は、入館料タダになるので、水曜日をねらって。

シティバンクかウェルズ・ファルゴが、買い取るとか何とかってやってた、例のWachovia（ワコーヴィア）がスポンサーなんだって。
吸収合併とかされると、こういうスポンサーの話も変わってくるのかな。

さて、月～土曜日は9時半にオープンするけど、ゆっくりでかけて午前10時到着。
期待はしてたけど、すでに長い行列が。

でも、どんどん前に進んだので、待ち時間は15-20分くらい。

熱帯雨林の鳥や蝶々などが生息するレインフォーレストドーム、プラネタリウム、地下には熱帯魚やホワイトアリゲーターなどが見アクアリウム。

プラネタリウムは、混んでると時間ごとの整理券が配られるので、到着したら、まず一番に整理券をもらいにいくといいでしょう。

ついてすぐ整理券をもらったけど、午後1：30の整理券でした。
約3時間半も待ち時間があったので、亀をみたり、熱帯魚を見たり。

屋上の屋根一面にはカルフォルニア原産の草花が植えられていたり、断熱材には
リサイクルのジーンズが使われていたり、デザインの一部かのように見える庇の
部分にソーラーパネルが組み込まれていたり、建物はなかなか興味深い。

そういえば、東京都でも、少し前に一定規模の大きさの新築・改築建築物屋上の
緑化を義務付ける条例を制定ってやってたよね。

環境面は日本は進んでるよね、っていうかアメリカが遅れてるのかな。
未だにゴミ分別、やってないしね。

この日、気に入ったのは、熱帯魚と亀たち。 タダだから、ま、いっかーってかんじだけど、“これで25ドルもとられたら頭に
くるわ”ってのが感想。

This Wednesday I used my paid vacation and took a day off and went to the new California Academy of Science.

It reopened recently after five years of renovation.

Free admission is available to visitors on the third Wednesday of every month, presented by Wachovia.

I wonder if Wachovia is bought and merges with Citigroup or Wells Fargo, will the sponsorship deal be changed?

Although Academy of Science opens at 9:30 a.m., I arrived there around 10:00 a.m. and as I expected, there was already a long line of people waiting to get in. I had to wait to get in for about 15-20 mintues and it wasn't so bad.

There is a rain forest dome, an aquarium and planetarium in one building.
There was another long line to get in the rain forest dome and I did not want to wait in the line anymore so I gave up.

Before I went there, I had checked on the website "Yelp! " that there was a Planetarium Show every hour and need a ticket to get in, so I immediately went to the Planetarium and got my ticket to the Planetarium for 1:30PM.
I waited for three and half hours until the show started. Ay yay yay!!

I then went down a floor and enjoyed a beautiful, relaxing view of fish among beautiful coral reefs in the water tank.

Then I went up to the roof.
There were some interesting things about the building.

1. Recycled denim is used as insulation for the building.

2. A solar canopy around the roof contains 60,000 photovoltaic cells.
The black voltaic cells look like a part of its design and I even did not notice until I saw a sign explaining them.

This solar canopy supplies 5 to 10 percent of the academy's energy needs and prevents the release of more than 405,000 pounds of greenhouse gas emissions annually.

3. The rooftop of the building, called the "Living Roof", is covered with native California flowers.

Typical black tar-and-asphalt building rooftops cause a phenomenon known as the "Urban Heat Island" effect.
The endless swath of black rooftops and pavement trap heat, causing cities to be 6 to 10 degrees warmer than outlying greenbelt areas.
One-sixth of all electricity consumed in the U.S. goes to cool buildings.

The Academy's green rooftop keeps the building's interior an average of 10 degrees cooler than a standard roof would.
The plants also transform carbon dioxide into oxygen, capture rainwater, and reduce energy needs for heating and cooling.

What I liked the most at the Academy were the Aqualium and the turtles.

The Academy was okay to spend a couple of hours at because it was free.
But I would have been so upset if I had to pay $25 to get in there!