Richardsville Elementary, a new LEED Platinum School in Kentucky, is getting extra credit by being the first zero energy school in the nation! Opening this month to much anticipation, the facility is a cornucopia of green building strategies and efficient technologies. The bread and butter of the school’s success are tremendous efficiency gains coupled with a 300 kW thin-film solar array. Sherman Carter Barnhart Architects have done and astonishing job of reducing the building’s energy consumption to one fourth of a typical school without breaking the bank.
The 72,000 square-foot school uses insulating concrete forms (ICF) with a highly insulated roof to reduce reliance upon heating and cooling equipment. The windows are shaded by light shelves that reflect sun into the celestry windows, providing ample daylighting. Nanogel translucent panels line the celestry window in the main hall. Their ability to provide lots of glare free daylight is paired with super-insulated performance. A ground-source heat-pump helps provide for the building’s heating and cooling needs, and exposed pipes, meters and a floor motif teach the students about the system. In fact, each hallway showcases an environmental theme or technology — solar panels, heat pumps, recycling, and water conservation.
This is a great story! We just finished building the Pacific Ridge School in Carlsbad, CA which is seeking LEED for Schools Gold Certification from the USGBC.
GO GREEN! (your planet will thank you later)
you pick up your trash after an afternoon in the park,you wait till dusk to mow your yard in the summer, you bring your own bags to the grocery,you recycle for goodness sake!! so, why are you still heating and cooling your home with the precious little amounts of the earths fossil fuels??? Geothermal technology allows the temperature of the earth to heat and cool your home. With this technology you not only receive hot water(yes..completely free..!!) but, also, your heating and cooling costs will lower dramatically most times, up to 60%!!!!
call me, Jill or my husband Bobby, anytime, day or night with questions 317.345.7049…if we don’t answer right away, we’ll get right back with ya! or you can email, jillyanmiller@yahoo.com or geothermal2009@yahoo.com… we love making the earth a better place to live, one install, one customer at a time!! check out our website too if you get a minute…www.midwestgeothermalexperts.com
thanks and have a great day!!
peace,
Jill Miller