Engineered Systems - March 2009 - (Page 50)

Dual-fuel boilers, demand controlled ventilation, thermal storage … these are just a few tactics used in this Connecticut community’s long-term strategy to improve performance and drive savings. See how a team-wide, high-performance-design charrette got everyone pointed toward success from the start. BY JIM SECKEL, P.E., LEED® AP AND WEBSTER GROUTEN, JR., LEED AP I n the past, K-12 school designs have rarely earned adjectives like innovative, imaginative, or environmentally friendly. However, in the last decade, a new trend has been sweeping the K-12 design industry, and K-12 designers are now emphasizing sustainable buildings with multiple high-performance characteristics. In many ways, the K-12 facility has actually been on the forefront of the national green building trend. Tightening budgets, increases in energy costs, and pressure to improve learning environments in order to exceed baseline standardized testing requirements have prompted a reassessment of efforts and priorities. Perceptions are also changing, in part due to the amount of data now available on what building a sustainable building actually costs vs. a traditional building. Studies have shown that a sustainable school facility costs only an average of 1.7% more in upfront cost, with a life-cycle payback of 10 to 20 times the additional initial cost. The increased emphasis on sustainable school construction led the USGBC to launch the LEED® For Schools program in 2007. Based on the LEED NC program, LEED For Schools takes into account some of the unique spatial requirements of K-12 facilities with emphasis on such considerations as classroom acoustics, mold prevention, master planning, and environmental site selection. The program seeks to encourage the nurturing of students in environments that promote natural lighting, quality acoustics, and air that is safe to breathe. The LEED For Schools program went into effect immediately on its release, without the pilot period associated with some of the USGBC’s other recently created LEED certification programs. With encouragement from the USGBC and increasing commitment from design professionals, the positive impact to our nation En g i neer ed Sy stem s March 2009 and the Earth from the greening of our schools has overwhelming potential. An estimated 60 million students, teachers and staff work and learn in schools in the United States each day. Approximately $6 billion is expended annually on energy to operate these schools, an expense second only to staff and faculty salaries. Studies have shown that facilities built around sustainable criteria utilize 30% percent less energy, use 30% to 50% less water, and produce 40% less CO2. From this perspective it is easy to see the tremendous impact that the adoption of sustainable design practices can have on both the environment and on operational costs in our school districts. One school construction program that serves as an excellent example of success in the development of sustainable school facilities is the current program in New Haven, CT. New Haven is currently in the midst of a 16-year, 47-school, $1.5 billion program, which will result in the complete renovation or replacement of every school in the district. For the city of New Haven, the wake-up call initially came from the rising cost of utilities in this high-demand corridor of the country. With an aging infrastructure more than 40-years-old, the cost estimates for utilities were projected to increase by 100% in less than 10 years. Reducing demand and consumption of the built environment became the priority in the program’s sixth year, 2003. The design and operation of the schools in the New Haven School Construction Program (NHSCP) provides excellent examples of some of the sustainable trends becoming common in our nation’s newest schools. This integrated design process begins the moment a school is scheduled for design and includes a two-day Conceptual Design High Performance Design Guidelines (HPDG) charrette in which project goals are established and strategies to meet and exceed 50

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Engineered Systems - March 2009

Engineered Systems - March 2009 Contents Editor’s Note Back2Basics Case In Point Commissioning Building Automation HVACR Designer Tips Application Checklist Teaching An Old School New Tricks Basics For Absorption Chillers A New Haven For Sustainable Schools Glossary Classifieds Advertiser Index Tomorrow’s Environment

Engineered Systems - March 2009

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