CARLSBAD, USA — Pacific Ridge, a private college-preparatory school in Carlsbad, is aiming to build one of the most energy-efficient and environmentally friendly campuses in the country.

Its 32,500-square-foot high school building will be the centrepiece of the campus when it’s completed in August. School officials expect the new high school building, which will serve 320 students, to win Gold LEED certification — a special designation from the US Green Building Council. Leadership in Energy and Environment Design, or LEED, specifications were introduced in the construction industry in 1998, and they have become the industry standard for evaluating “green” buildings.

Only two other kindergarten through 12th-grade schools in California have obtained LEED certification — one in Corte Madera in Northern California and the other in Los Angeles, according to the US Green Building Council in Washington, DC. About 1,600 K-12 schools worldwide have obtained LEED certification. Most are in the United States.

The Pacific Ridge project, at 6269 El Fuerte St, is expected to cost about $20 million, said Eileen Mullady, head of the school. Pacific Ridge so far has raised about half the money needed, she said this month.

The high school building was designed by Carrier Johnson, a prominent architecture firm in San Diego, and construction is being managed by Swinerton Incorporated, based in San Francisco.

Mullady said the school’s ambitions to build a green campus tie in closely with its educational mission.

“We’re trying to make children pay attention to what responsible citizenry is, and that includes minimising their impact on the environment, leaving no trace and using resources responsibly,” she said. “That’s really the ethical value of sustainability, and that’s what we want to teach and live by.”

Building a school from the ground up with energy efficiency in mind also will have financial benefits, because water and electricity bills will be minimized, she added.

The two-storey high school will offer students a mix of indoor and outdoor spaces, with natural lighting and a free flow of air from the outside. The school building will have 19 classrooms, four science laboratories, two student reading lounges, a college counseling area, and faculty and staff administration offices.

Ninety-nine per cent of the school’s classroom and support spaces will have access to daylight and views. Each reading lounge will feature “butterfly” roofs that angle upward to provide lighting and cooling. The lounges also will feature overhead doors that will open to outdoor courtyards shaded by trellises and trees.

Among the school’s other features:

*The building lobby and reading lounges will be designed for passive ventilation only. Classrooms, laboratories and offices will also feature passive ventilation, but they’ll have backup access to energy-efficient air conditioning systems. Passive ventilation throughout the school will mean that conventional air conditioning will be used 49 percent of the time. The estimate includes hot summer months when school will be out of session, so air conditioning will be used even less, said Phil Hitch, the school’s director of finance and Pacific Ridge’s project manager for the new school.

* Sensors that measure interior lighting, as well as whether a room is empty, will be used to automatically adjust light levels and save electricity.

* Energy-efficient gas heaters will supply hot water, and low-flow fixtures and waterless urinals will limit water use. Those and other steps should result in a 30 percent reduction in water use compared to a building complying with conventional building codes.

* The school will have solar panels on its roof, although they will reduce electricity use by only 2.5 per cent.

* To publicise the energy-efficient design of the school, a flat-screen display in the lobby will track current and past energy consumption.

Taken together, all of the school’s measures will reduce energy consumption by more than 40 percent compared to a building designed according to the California Energy Code, Pacific Ridge officials said.

Outside, Pacific Ridge will grow California native plants to reduce water consumption. Trees will be planted along the campus’ southern edge to provide shade.

An automated irrigation system will be designed to reduce water use. Measures will include using low-volume spray heads, and differentiating the amount of watering various areas receive according to sun exposure and the watering needs of specific types of plants.

Copley News Service