[Greenbuilding] Super-efficient school buildings

Mon Mar 16 16:37:11 CDT 2015

An example of Passivhaus schools with  timber structure and mostly
eco-friendly materials from England.

2 new build primary schools by the architects Architype for the same BUDGET
than a less efficient Building Regulation (low thermal performance)
standard school.

http://www.passivehouse-international.org/download.php?cms=1&file=2012-01Hines_SustainMag.pdf

video présentation - very good
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MffKNX5qlLw&feature=player_embedded&noredirect=1#
!

Quality circle - BSRIA soft landings
http://www.bsria.co.uk/services/design/soft-landings/

The advice regarding climate, regs,etc and  oversized sports areas,
oversized car parks and oversized schools is pertinan also

Regards

John Daglish
Paris, France

2015-03-16 22:11 GMT+01:00 Dan Johnson <dan at designandenergy.com>:

> Good architects will know what building features to use. For a planner
> working with stakeholders in the early stages of a project, I believe, more
> importantly, transportation to/from the school is the biggest ecological
> issue faced by most schools. If you can slash the fuel burned for
> transportation, the building energy is less important; just do an OK job.
> It's tempting to spend a lot of time researching what lighting system to
> use, but the elephant is transportation. Perhaps locational efficiency and
> integration with existing walk/bike network & policy should absorb most of
> the planning budget. For example: http://www.apsva.us/Page/2240. --Dan
>
> Dan Johnson | Design and Energy | 510.325.5672
> Assoc. AIA, ASHRAE, LEED AP, CEPE, CPHC | 5500 Kales Ave. Oakland
> California 94618
>
> On Mon, Mar 16, 2015 at 1:42 PM, Rob Dickinson <robd at pobox.com> wrote:
>
>> Thanks, Jason and George, for the good ideas.
>>
>> I should have mentioned earlier our location, which is in the Pacific
>> Northwest (Eugene area of Oregon).
>>
>> Rob
>>
>>
>> On Mon, Mar 16, 2015 at 2:05 PM, Jason Holstine <jason at amicusgreen.com>
>> wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> Rob,
>>>
>>> Some of the factors will depend on where you are, your climate, your
>>> politics, and state/local funding mechanisms available. USGBC has an entire
>>> sub-practice dedicated to schools and there are regional and national
>>> conferences just for green schools (mid-atlantic was just a couple weeks
>>> ago).  It doesn’t take much googling to find case studies and practitioners.
>>>
>>> Certainly, a wise goal is always to minimize total energy demand, and
>>> efficient HVAC systems to best meet the forecast demand. You’ll want to
>>> maximize natural daylighting b/c it also has proven to improve student
>>> achievement. As a small case, my wife is a teacher at one of the first LEED
>>> Platinum schools, which is now Tier II (lower income), and the results are
>>> noticeable beyond the test scores (such as attention).
>>>
>>> One of the base arguments to make—which you have your finger on—is that
>>> maximizing EE and water efficiency will reduce operating and maintenance
>>> budget factors over decades, which is critical for school systems to free
>>> expenditures towards curriculum. They’ll want to set-aside some budget for
>>> training maintenance staff on what will be new technologies to them.
>>>
>>> HTH,
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> *Jason Holstine *
>>> Amicus Green Building Center
>>> “Sustain Your Space”
>>> e: jason at amicusgreen.com
>>> w: www.amicusgreen.com
>>> p: 301-571-8590
>>> tf: 866-587-9140
>>> f:  301-571-8597
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On 3/16/15 2:21 PM, "Rob Dickinson" <robd at pobox.com> wrote:
>>>
>>> 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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>>
>>
>>
>> --
>> "I still find each day too short for all the thoughts I want to think,
>> all the walks I want to take, all the books I want to read, and all the
>> friends I want to see." — John Burroughs (1837-1921) American naturalist,
>> writer
>>
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>
>
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-- 
John Daglish
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