Let the Sun Shine In

1

• Let the Sun Shine In
• Third Creek Elementary School gets the Gold
• In LEED certification.
• A look at their strengths and weaknesses.
• Antonio Larson

2
Planning a new school

• Players
• Mary Serene- visionary school board member
• I am very dedicated to the importance of
  sustainable life styles. There is no better place
  to start to teach this than in our schools.  
• Brooks General Contractors
• Rob Jackson Iredell-Statesville School
  DistrictConstruction Manager
• Bryna Dunn, AICPMoseley ArchitectsEnvironmental
  building consultant

3

• A strong willed board member and an architect
  familiar with LEED certification shaped the
  project at
• ONE FULL DAY PLANNING MEETING
• We were trying to be the best we could be with
  in our budget. We would have like to have done
  more, but it was not possible. It is just amazing
  in this community that we were able to get
  something so  progressive and environmentally
  friendly implemented.
• Mary Brucie Serene
• She wanted a school with ample daylighting We
  advised the planning committee of all the
  additional initiatives we could include and we
  also introduced LEED to them as a measuring tool.
  We were aiming or silver, but the enthusiasm kept
  growing. Bryna Dunn
• Construction estimates were under the projected
  budgets so there were no partners, just the
  Iredell-Statesville Board of Education.

4
Suburban Carolina

• Must meet needs
• of population boom.

• 25,000 population
• Mostly car and school bus reliant.

5
Starting with a Greenfield site9-14

• Low disturbance
• Bike encouragement
• Parking scaled back
• Landscaping
• Wetlands Created for runoff

6
Third Creek Elementary School Iredell-Statesville,
North Carolina

• Built in 2002.
• Home of the Crawdads
• And Dale Fox, the principal who rides to school
  on a horse (on special occasions)

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Water Efficiency4-5

• Landscaping was better than roof irrigation
• Water Use Reduction is a great success
• More than 30 over the requirements of the
  Energy Policy Act of 1992
• Wetland Created to treat Stormwater
• (greatly reduces phosphorous suspended solids)

Low flow, way to go
Waterless Urinals Save the Day
8
No room without sunlight!
Familiarity with Heschong Mahone Group daylight
study on productivity.
9
Natural Lighting
Rely on daylight, but divert and refract direct
light
Clerestory windows in common areas
10
Optimizing Energy PerformanceEA 5-17(reduce
annual energy costs by over 25 over ASHRAE
guidelines)

• Light shelfs bounce indirect light deeper
• Multiple layers of light control
• Motion activated lighting

11
Integration into the CurriculumStandardized Sun
Orientation
12
South Facing Light Shelves

• Slanted for photovoltaics when the money is
  available

13
Materials Resources6-13

• Recycled Content- 50 diverted from fill
• Rapid renewables- strawboard
• Certified Wood- no formaldehyde
• Regional Materials- inside 500 mi.

14
Indoor Environmental Quality12-15

• Mindfulness during construction of products,
  byproducts, keeping pollutants out
• (Low emitters)
• No VOC paints
• No chemical materials- formaldehyde based
  resins, chromium, arsenic
• And of course daylight views!

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Bright pointsThird Creek Schools Main Green
Areas

• IEQ/IAQ- wherever possible, planning controlled
  all situations from construction to day to day
  classrooms.
• Water Efficiency- controlling runoff with a man
  made wetlands pond, nativeplant learning
  gardens, appliances.
• Lighting- everyone I spoke to mentioned the
  lighting as having the greatest impact.
• Its just a light filled sunlight that brightens
  the mood!
• Glenise Wood (school secretary)

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Shadowy AreasWhere could more LEED points be
scored?

• ENERGY ATMOSPHERE NEEDS WORK- is obstacle
• Optimize Energy Performance- Control of non
  perimeter systems is difficult inside of a school
  with young students. Continual work on behavior
  modification through curriculum.
• Renewable energy- plans for solar and geothermal
  wells
• Green power- the market for wind energy appears
  to be only emerging now. Switching usually
  requires no new infrastructure.
• Refrigeration and fire suppression could have
  been equipped w/o HCFCs or Halons
• Locally/regionally harvested materials- strive to
  find products created in North Carolina and
  create more financial/philosophical partnerships
  outside of the school district.
• Thinking ahead for oriented additions and more
  outdoor environmental remediation classrooms
• Lack of Partnerships from the outset may detract
  from vertical influence.

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Resources

• http// www.usgbc.org
• U.S. Green Building Council case studies LEED
  documentation.
• http//www.iss.k12.nc.us
• Iredell-Statesville school district website.
• http//www.ncgreenbuilding.org
• North Carolina Green Building site.
• http//www.districtadministration.com
• Magazine for K-12 administrators. Benefits of
  green building.
• Dunn, Bryna. Interview.
• LEED Environmental building consultant w/
  Moseley Architects
• Serene, Mary. Correspondence.
• School Board Representative Eco-advocate.
• Fox, Dale. Correspondence.
• Principal of Third Creek School.