Jan 13 2011
The new South Adams K-8th grade school has earned the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) prestigious ENERGY STAR® award after the first year of operation.
Distinguished as Indiana's first new construction project utilizing the design-build delivery method, the new school was dedicated in July of 2009 and is now distinguished as one of the most energy efficient K-12 school buildings in the state.
To earn the ENERGY STAR, the administration and facilities staff of South Adams Schools worked with Performance Services, a design builder and the design-build team, to incorporate green school features into the project, including a highly efficient mechanical-electrical-plumbing (MEP) design. Additional features included energy efficient lighting, occupancy sensors, a white reflective roof and natural daylight features. Indoor air quality standards are an important part of EPA criteria and these standards were examined and certified by a professional engineer as part of the qualification process. With annual usage of 50,000 BTU/ft2/yr for the entire building and an Energy Star score of 88, South Adams is 44 percent more efficient than the average school building in the state of Indiana and in the top 5% of ENERGY STAR certified K-12 buildings in the nation.
"Through the design of our building we wanted a quality structure, safe and optimal learning environment, and a building the community would be proud of. With energy being a large part of the budget to run a school building we wanted to have the most energy efficient structure that would also fit the overall scope of the project. In receiving this award, I feel we accomplished all our goals for the community," said Dave Vorhees, director of buildings and grounds.
"A key ingredient to student learning is the learning environment, and an important aspect of the learning environment is the heating and cooling of classrooms. For many years, South Adams battled to keep classrooms at comfortable temperatures. Our new heating and cooling system for the school campus is helping us win this battle. To earn the Energy Star Award is an added bonus. It is great to be recognized that our energy costs are considerably less than the average Indiana school. I want to thank our design-build team, including Performance Services, the school board, and Dave Vorhees, for casting the vision years ago, so that an energy-efficient learning environment could be a reality for the students of South Adams," said Scott Litwiler, acting superintendent.
"It's our pleasure to work with the entire administration and facilities staff at South Adams Schools. This was a very enjoyable, landmark project for both Indiana and South Adams. It's rewarding to support South Adams' ongoing energy conservation efforts and create a quality learning environment for every student," said Tim Thoman, President of Performance Services, an ENERGY STAR partner.
Source: http://www.performanceservices.com/