MAR 08

This certainly can pave the way for future schools. For a new generation this can truly be a great success story. The one draw back is the cost for a school of this magnitude. I am almost positive that certain government grants will help make it somewhat affordable.

As with the first prototype of anything, it costs a lot to make the first one, but you use it to troubleshoot the design. Come up with ways to make it better, and get on with a mass production scale once major bugs are worked out. There is a lot to balance when creating so many innovations together at once. The kids that go to school here will have many ideas on what works and what doesn't. Don't forget to ask the kids about what needs to be changed, because only they will know.

Bio swales? I think they mean "bioswales"

In a school? On a school? Under a school?

The Richardsville School is based on the ideal concept of a NetZero or Zero Energy Building. It incorporates several ancillary technologies with a Nudura ICF building envelope to attain NetZero performance. The added systems are what increases the school's capital costs. Energy Savings Cost Studies project that energy savings could be $223,000 annually.It must be realized that there are substantial rewards to building without actually attaing Zero Energy. Seven other schools built with Nudura ICF illustrate this:
1.Activity in the USA Education Sector has been a showcase for the benefits of Nudura ICF construction:
Construction costs are generally lower than all other methods of construction by 5-15% in schools. The only other method that is about 5% lower than Nudura is 2x4 wood framing.
2.Faster construction times up to 30%.
3.Significant average energy savings of $2-3/ sq. ft/year.
4. An Energy Star Rating is defined as a building with energy use < 50kBTU/sq. ft/year. Analysis of 8 Nudura schools show median value was 34 kBTU/sq.ft/year (range 18-43).
5. Nudura schools show valuable energy savings without neccessarily building to NetZero. These schools can reduce the energy consumption per student/ year from the National Average in non-ICF schools of 72,000 BTU to < 36,000 BTU. Richardsville should attain the impressive low of 18,000 BTU /student/year.
Just building with Nudura and ensuring an efficient envelope, including windows, doors,solar thermal DHW, cool roof systems etc will keep capital costs competitive.
Pragmatic geographic cost/benefit analysis should determine if it is reasonable to aim for NetZero. Several factors are considered including the cost of energy, latitude, access to water sources for geothermal etc. Building with Nudura allows AC and heating equipment to be downsized by 50-75%, which reduces capital and operational costs for the project.

To The Editor:

Please be so kind to correct the typo, if at all possible, in line 6 where the word "attaining" is shown as 'attaing'. My sincere apology for this typo.

DKLD

I'm a high school student in Warron Co and I can tell you there is definitely no Richardsville Elem opening this fall, nor is there one under construction to my knowledge. There is, however, a South Warren high school/ middle school opening this fall that i've heard is very efficeient anad may be the school you're refering to. Hope that helps

Warren County Kentucky -- I've visited the job and it definately exists!