[Greenbuilding] Super-efficient school buildings

[Michael O'Brien]

Hi, Rob--

Are you looking at Oregon Green Schools initiative? Might be some ideas for design.

Charlie Brown has been an excellent resource for classroom daylighting. There are examples at Mt Angel and SRG Partnership has designed daylit/energy efficient portables using his research.

Mt Angel also uses passive ventilation in the new classrooms, have not heard how it's worked out.

North Clackamas High School is pretty energy efficient, Huston Eubank did an article on it, www.oregon.gov/ENERGY/CONS/school/docs/clackamas.pdf. There is also an article at www.betterbricks.com. It was designed by BOORA.

You're asking the right questions!

Best, Mike O'Brien
Sent from my iPhone

> On Mar 16, 2015, at 12:21 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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