Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

Arlington ISD’s New Agricultural Center Achieves Net-Zero Energy

  • 01/22/19

Arlington, Texas – As the only net-zero building in the Arlington area, Arlington ISD’s Agricultural Science Center now utilizes a photovoltaic solar array and wind turbine to produce more energy than it consumes. Their new interactive dashboard, housed on a 55-inch touch screen, shows that the energy produced is high enough to push the surplus into the local power grid. This dashboard allows students and teachers to see how energy production works in real-time. The dashboard also shows how much energy is being used by different building systems such as HVAC or lighting at any given time.

Arlington ISD Agricultural Center

The new 28,000-square-foot ag center, designed by VLK Architects, has two classrooms, a metal lab, animal pens, and support areas. Because the dashboard is available online, teachers of all grade levels within the district can access the content which can then be utilized for various classroom instruction involving energy conservation as well as agriculture. Additional curriculum and instruction are being developed based on real-time data on weather and moon phases, local watershed information, animal life cycles, and interactive games which are embedded within the dashboard. Multiple elements of the building came to fruition during the design charrette which included students, AISD staff, and school board members. The result was a sustainability program and the potential future expansion of the center to accommodate growth and additional programs.

“Ideally, we would like to eventually include live feeds of the animals, if possible," said Danielle Reynolds, K-12 Science coordinator, AISD. “The idea is to help elementary and secondary students see the connectivity of living and non-living things in our environment."

The Net Zero Energy Building certification (NZEB) is a branch of the Living Building Challenge (LBC) that offers certification for buildings that supply on-site renewable energy for one hundred percent of the building’s energy needs on a net annual basis. The NZEB designation verifies that a building is truly operating as claimed, harnessing energy from the sun, wind or earth to exceed net annual demand.  To earn this certification, a building must actually meet five requirements of the LBC: Limits of Growth, Net Zero Energy, Rights to Nature, Beauty and Spirit, and Inspiration and Education.

Featured

  • UNT Dallas Holds Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony for $100M STEM Building

    The University of North Texas at Dallas in Dallas, Texas, recently celebrated the opening of its new, $100-million STEM Building, according to local news. The ceremony on Dec. 2 preceded the first day of classes in the facility on Jan. 12, 2026.

  • Kimball International Releases Curated Design Support Program

    Commercial furnishings company Kimball International recently announced the launch of a new end-to-end design support program, DesignSuite. According to a news release, its goal is to guide architecture & design professionals and dealer partners through the process from vision to specification.

  • 144-Year-Old High-School Campus Debuts New Academic Facility

    San Diego High School (SDHS) in San Diego, Calif., recently held a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a new student services and classroom building; the project is part of a larger SDHS Whole Site Modernization project that began in 2022.

  • Full Sail University Announces First Student Housing Facility

    Full Sail University in Winter Park, Fla., recently announced that development has begun on its first student housing community, according to a news release. The university is partnering with Nvision Development for construction and long-term management of the facility, which will stand five stories and have the capacity for more than 570 beds.