Add as a preferred source on Google

Energy Efficiency for a Living Building

  • 12/01/16
empty classroom

Mitsubishi Electric helped the Willow School to meet the Living Building Challenge by providing energy efficient solutions that met the challenge’s guidelines.

When Mark and Gretchen Biedron co-founded the The Willow School, in Gladstone, N. J., their vision was to create a school that provides students with a space that celebrates learning and collaboration, and that fosters ethical relationships between people and the natural systems that support them. Sustainability drives both the curriculum and building design for Willow, so when the school was designing its fourth building — the Health, Wellness and Nutrition Center — the project team selected a Variable Refrigerant Flow (VRF) zoning system from Mitsubishi Electric Cooling & Heating (Mitsubishi Electric).

Willow has a proud history of green building. In 2002, it built the first LEED Gold certified school building in the United States and, in 2007, the first LEED Platinum certified school in New Jersey. Ever the pioneers, Biedron and his team wanted to up the ante for the new Center. With this project, we were focused on taking the Living Building Challenge (LBC).

Each decision the project team made took careful consideration. Vin Farese, principal at Loring Consulting Engineers (project engineers) says, “Every load was tracked and analyzed. Every amp and watt was accounted for. Nothing was missed” while following the rigid LBC guidelines.

Biedron says, “To be Living Building certified, we had to make sure that we were getting our products from within a certain distance, but Mitsubishi [Electric] products just weren’t within that limit. However, Mitsubishi [Electric] quickly provided us with all of the documentation we needed to be able to get an exception to this rule. We proved that their products would be so energy-efficient over their lifetime that the one-time transportation expense would deliver a system that would ultimately save on cost and energy year after year after year.”

www.mitsubishielectric.com

This article originally appeared in the issue of .

Featured

  • classroom with crystal ball on top of a desk

    Call for Opinions: Spaces4Learning 2026 Predictions for Educational Facilities

    As 2025 winds to a close, the Spaces4Learning staff is asking its readers—school administrators, architects, engineers, facilities managers, builders, superintendents, designers, vendors, and more—to send us their predictions for educational facilities in 2026.

  • Preparing for the Next Era of Healthcare Education, Innovation

    Across the country, public universities and community colleges are accelerating investments in healthcare education facilities as part of a broader strategy to address workforce shortages, modernize outdated infrastructure, and expand clinical training capacity. These projects, which are often located at the center of campus health and science districts, are no longer limited to traditional classrooms.

  • Geometric abstract school illustration

    How Design Shapes Learning and Success

    Can the color of a wall, the curve of a chair, or the hum of fluorescent lights really affect how a student learns? More schools are beginning to think so.

  • Los Angeles City College Breaks Ground on New Administration, Workforce Building

    Los Angeles City College (LACC) in Los Angeles, Calif., recently broke ground on a new $72-million administrative facility, according to a news release. The Cesar Chavez Administration and Workforce Building will stand four stories, cover 67,230 square feet, and play home to a wide variety of the school’s educational and administrative services.

Digital Edition