Better HVAC for a Sustainable School

HVAC

The Willow School was able to earn the Living Building challenge certification with help from Mitsubishi Electric’s VRF system.

Mark and Gretchen Biedron co-founded the The Willow School (Willow) in Gladstone, N.J., to celebrate learning and collaboration, and foster ethical relationships between people and the natural systems that support them. Sustainability drives the curriculum and building design, which led to the selection of a Variable Refrigerant Flow (VRF) system from Mitsubishi Electric Cooling & Heating (Mitsubishi Electric) for its Health, Wellness and Nutrition Center.

Biedron and his team took on the Living Building Challenge (LBC) for the Health, Wellness and Nutrition Center, which required everything in the building to be 100-percent electric. The team chose VRF over an all-electric geothermal system because “VRF was well ahead on net-zero efficiency.” The need for an electric kitchen contributed to the selection of highefficiency electric heat pumps and photovoltaic panels to offset the energy used.

Including Lossnay Energy Recovery Ventilators (ERVs) further improved efficiencies. When conditions are agreeable for natural ventilation, a controls system prompts teachers and students to open classroom windows. Otherwise, the ERVs recover energy from exhaust air to simultaneously cool or heat outside ventilation air.

“We had to remain net-zero or netpositive. With solar panels and the Mitsubishi [Electric] system, we were able to achieve that,” says Biedron. “A conventional facility built to code uses between 100-150 kBtu per square foot …but this building uses only 21 kBtu per square foot. If you remove the kitchen, it would only use 15 kBtu per square foot.” Willow is one of the most energy-efficient buildings in the country.

The project earned LBC certification and is also recognized as a Green Ribbon School by the United States DOE.

www.mitsubishipro.com

This article originally appeared in the issue of .

Featured

  • CSU Pueblo Installs Solar-Powered Charging Benches

    Colorado State University Pueblo (CSU Pueblo) recently announced that it has installed four solar-powered charging benches from Bluebolt Outdoor, LLC, according to a news release.

  • Midland ISD Starts Construction on Two New High Schools

    The Midland Independent School District recently announced that it will break ground on two new high schools in Midland, Texas, according to a news release. The district is partnering with Pfluger Architects, Lee Lewis Construction, and Satterfield & Pontikes to create a total of over 1.5 million square feet for 8,400 students in grades 9–12.

  • Duncanville High School Breaks Ground on New CTE Building

    Duncanville High School in Duncanville, Texas, recently held a groundbreaking ceremony for the newest addition to its campus, a Career and Technical Education (CTE) facility. The new building is part of a larger CTE expansion project for the school included in a 2023, $170-million bond program.

  • Key Considerations for Office-to-Higher-Education Facility Conversions

    Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, office-to-alternative-use conversions have become a recurring subject of urban development discourse. Office utilization rates across major U.S. cities remain below 50%, with vacancy rates exceeding 27% in San Francisco and 16% in New York. Higher education facilities present programmatic and spatial use cases that align readily with the typical characteristics of commercial office buildings.

Digital Edition