[Greenbuilding] Super-efficient school buildings

[Rob Dickinson]

Hello all,

I am participating on a school board advisory committee considering options
for building a new school in my community.  We're charged with considering
and making recommendations for the general scope of the project (such as
the size and # of students to plan for, the design features that we hope
will be incorporated, etc.), along with considering how much money we can
reasonable expect the community to support in terms of bond financing for
the project.

In addition to wanting to achieve the educational goals of this new school,
I have a particular interest in seeing that any new buildings that we
construct, including public buildings, be built to very high standards of
energy efficiency and with sustainable materials where possible.

On the committee, I expect to be regularly raising the benefits of
investing in energy efficiency up front, when the greatest gains can be had
for the least dollars, relative to either spending way more for energy
costs in operating the school over the course of the next 60+ years, or
spending way more to retrofit in energy efficiency in later.

I'm curious if you have any particular suggestions for what the district
should prioritize in terms of energy efficiency features and construction
requirements.  I would think that the ordering would be roughly similar to
how one prioritizes for residential construction, with a primary focus on
the longest lasting components and those hardest to change later, such as
the building envelope and insulation models, air tightness and ventilation
system, and highly efficient heating/cooling systems, lighting fixtures,
etc.  I would also think that this would be a good time to invest in
renewable energy systems like solar PV, which is at a very low price point,
and that a bare minimum would be to pre-wire for solar. In Oregon, I
believe there is a state mandated requirement that 1.5% of a project budget
be allocated towards renewable energy systems.

I would love to see the school built with a high-R-value wall system, using
either a significant amount of exterior rigid foam insulation or
double-stud walls, or both.  I remodeled my own house to have 9"
double-stud walls filled with dense-pack cellulose and 4" of polyiso rigid
foam exterior insulation, with similar (or greater R-value) assemblies
under the house and in the roof.

In residential construction, I take inspiration from the Passive House
standard, focusing on super insulation and very strict air tightness
standards.  I think the same general principles should apply for school
facilities, but I do have questions around how the ventilation requirements
should differ, given the much greater human occupancy.  Obviously the
ventilation rates need to provide for adequate fresh air intake, but I'm
curious as to the health/wellness concerns when you frequently have many
sick kids inhabiting the same space as healthy kids, and how that level of
ventilation affects HRV/ERV designs and capacities and the benefits of air
tightness.

I would welcome any ideas on construction of super-efficient school
buildings, including:

1) construction practices
2) wall, roof, and floor assemblies
3) ventilation designs and practices
4) incorporation of renewables
5) incorporation of energy monitoring or other systems approaches to
reduced energy usage

I would also appreciate any references to great projects that we should be
aware of and perhaps using as models.

Best regards,

Rob Dickinson
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