Lady Bird Johnson Middle School’s green features are apparent from the moment one approaches the school, as 12 wind turbines rise 45 feet into the air alongside the building. While visually impressive, the wind turbines actually only produce 1 percent of the school’s power needs. The other 99 percent is generated through the 2,988 Solyndra panels on the white roof that contain cylindrical tubes that capture sunlight from 360 degrees. Any extra energy produced is directed back to the regional grid.
The renewable energy production is coupled with a highly efficient building. 105 geothermal heat pumps help the HVAC system use about 30 percent less energy, and high-performance materials from Fabral Metal Wall and Roof Systems were used for the building’s physical structure. Insulated wall panels, sun shades, and light shelves are a few of the recycled and sustainable Fabral materials used. To help block the hot Texas sun from overheating the building, a large canopy was constructed on two sides of the building to help shade the windows.
This is a perfect way to encourage and motivate students to consider and more importantly, CHOOSE alternative forms of energy. By immersing them in efficient technology, we can show them how application of such techniques and materials is beneficial in a wide scale. Hopefully more schools take note of Ladybird Johnson’s example and follow suit. Good job guys.
Juan Miguel Ruiz (Going Green)
http://www.GreenJoyment.com
This school is a shining example of what can be accomplished with today’s technology and good design. I hope school districts all over the world take noe.
Its all right, but net zero doesn’t anything to fix the fact that its an auto dependent location. I would rather have a non-net zero school in a location where the kids can walk to school then a net zero school any day. It uses less energy not to mention all the other benefits.
This is great, but the important part of this achievement should be the design effort that went into reducing energy consumption. Any school in a rich district can install enough solar panels to make it net zero – please tell us more about design that went into energy efficiency in these articles.