Viewing the gym, the central part of the design.

After CUSD #7 elementary school collapsed after a mine subsided underneath it, the district is well on their way to designing and constructing a new school to house almost 750 children. It was nearly two and one half years ago when the 68,000 square foot elementary school was lost in just one day. With the lost school, the district had to find a home for nearly 750 kids. First, the district went on a “split schedule”. The secondary kids went from 6:30am-noon and the elementary kids went from 12-5:30pm. That went on for almost a year until the district was able to move in 33,000 square feet of portable buildings and even with that, all the kids are still not reunited. Some children are in the middle school, some children are in other districts, and most of the kids are in the temporary buildings. There is progress being made though, the school has been in a process of picking a site and they finally came to the conclusion of choosing the DeWitt property on the west side of Gillespie. Last week, the school chose a bid of $1.5 million to fill in the mine that is beneath the DeWitt property. After proper grouting, the site will hold the most innovative elementary school in the surrounding area, possibly even the county. The 92,000 square foot elementary school building is set to cost the district $6.5 million because the state is going to cover 75% of the cost. Keep in mind, the district also has the debt from the collapsed school to pay for as well.

Peyton Bernot learning about insulated concrete form.

As the designing of the new school is near completion, the district is eying ways of being innovative and energy efficient. With those two features in the blue prints, the district decided to tour Richardsville Elementary which is in Richardsville, Kentucky (approximately 5 hours and 40 minutes away). Superintendent Paul Skeans advised the school board to come and view Richardsville Elementary with him, so they will become more educated when it comes time to make energy efficient decisions about CUSD #7 elementary school. Peyton Bernot was the only school board member in attendance Saturday afternoon, as well as school architect Tom Hyde. Richardsville Elementary houses about 490 kids and has about a 98% free/reduced lunch rate so many children eat both breakfast and lunch at the school. Richardsville, which brags of a 98% attendance rate, is one of Kentucky’s most energy efficient schools and is in the nation’s top 5 energy efficient schools.

The first thing we noticed was the building setting. The building sits at an angle from the road and that is because it is all part of the active daylight process. The building is actually designed to turn to face the rising sun and that is to maximize the amount of sunlight they use. On most days, there is not a single light on in the classrooms.

Jonie explaining geothermal energy.

Most people think when you build something fancy, what can you add to it to make it nicer; but with Richardsville, the question was what can they take away. The school has incorporated many energy efficient features on their new school. Solar energy has become the best feature at the school so far, the school is getting a return on their solar and that is without 40% of the panels in place. The solar panels are actually producing more than what was expected. The school sells the extra energy that they cannot use collected from the solar panels. They sell the energy to TVA at 22 cents per kilowatt hour and the solar panels produce 2,500 kilowatt hours per day. The pay rate is a premium rate because the energy is so clean and natural. Richardsville is receiving about $400 per month from TVA for their unused solar energy and that is with only 60% of the panels in place. Once all the panels are in place, the school will receive close to $600 per month ($7,200 per year) for their solar energy they are collecting. The school also uses geothermal energy which cools and heats the school from the Earth’s core. The excess heat taken from the geothermal supply is used to heat the water in the school.

Richardsville Elementary gymnasium.

When designing the new Richardsville school, the school is built in a circular design around the gym and cafetorium because they were consuming the most energy. These two rooms were built in the central part of the building because they use the most air and heat, so the air escapes to the school rather than escaping outside.  The gymnasium floor is actually made of bamboo. All of the floors in the halls are made of stained concrete because they do not have to be waxed or buffed, so it will cut back on electricity. All of the lights throughout the halls are motion detected, so they only operate when they sense movement. The concrete is triple reinforced to prevent as much heat and air escaping the building. The walls are made of concrete with styrofoam surrounding it on both sides to act as an insulating barrier. All the concrete throughout the entire building is insulated because it provides triple the amount of insulation, it is more sturdy, and it can withstand hurricane winds up to 200mph. The windows along the top of the school are filled with nanogel, because it prevents 1/3 of UV rays of entering the building as well as providing a brighter, cleaner white light.

Light shelfs lining the windows.

All of the classrooms are equipped with 6 solar tubes lights. These lights consist of 9 tubes that come directly from the roof, so it is a clear pathway for the sun to enter the classroom. The tubes are also controlled with a switch, so you can angle them to grasp as much light as possible when the day progresses. Also, underneath the windows is a light shelf which consists of 3 different panels that are angled towards the window to reflect the sunlight in the classroom. The sunlight then reflects off the arced ceiling and bounces to the children’s working space. The ceiling of the room is not your typical flat ceiling either. The ceiling is shaped as an arc; it starts at 11.5 feet and it arcs down to 8 feet and the purpose of this is to flood the sunlight down to the classroom. The painting on the wall is also designed to flood the sunlight. The tan color goes up to 8 feet and then it is white to direct the sunlight in. Another interesting thing about the classrooms is the HVAC sensors can detect how many people are in the classroom by how much carbon dioxide they are exhaling so the system will change the temperature to make it comfortable for how many people are in the room.

In Richardsville, they do not use computers. Many people will find this appalling, but they will tell you that computers use too much electricity and give off too much heat that they would have to offset with cooling. Richardsville uses laptop carts. These carts are equipped with laptops and iPads and all of the devices are connected to a printer that rests on top of the cart. At the end of the day, the teacher returns the cart to the power station (which is powered solarly) so every device is recharged for the next day.

2 of the 4 convectional/steam ovens.

The kitchen in Richardsville is only equipped with 4 convectional ovens. The oven is a combination oven that uses both convection and steam and is controlled with percentages. The hood over the ovens only turns on when they sense heat, so they are not always on and using electricity. Everything in the kitchen is energy star rated. The plastic trays are washed in the dishwashing room. The dishwashing room is all energy star rated as well.

You will find no gutters on the school in Richardsville. The roof is sloped to scattered drainage pipes and the water runs into those. From those, they all meet up to one pipe which runs down through the school. The pipe is clear and exposed, so the students are able to view the water running down the pipe. The pipe is ran to the main floor where the water exits to water the run-off garden the children have planted.

Bernot questioning Jonie about the solar panels and the slope of the roof.

Richardsville Elementary is 77,000 square feet and cost $13 million as CUSD #7 elementary school will be 92,000 square feet and will cost $26.5 million. Richardsville uses 17 kbts of power per square foot as the normal school uses 75 kbts per square foot. As of now, CUSD #7 is planning to be energy efficient and use geothermal energy, photovoltaic solar cells and effects, wind power, and maybe solar panels. The district is planning on receiving $400,000 to use for geothermal energy, $225,000 for photovoltaic solar cells, and $120,000 for wind power.  Now, school board member Peyton Bernot has to convince the other school board members, that were not in attendance, what should be considered for our school and what they should look into to save the district money on both the building structure and operating expense.

The next school board meeting is scheduled tonight (July 25) at 7:00pm.

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