The last class of the old Sandy High School graduated and the building now stands silent.

But when Eric Buschert of Dull Olson Weeks Associates (the architecture firm behind the new school), visited the building, it spoke volumes.

“The old building is not very energy efficient,” said Buschert, noting in
particular the lack of enough insulation and the single glaze windows.

The new high school – a building approximately twice as big and featuring up
to three times as much indoor volume as the old one and set to open this fall
– is a completely different story.

As part of the $114.9 million bond passed to build the school, the district has
included a plethora of energy efficient and eco-friendly elements that will save
money and, over the course of time, pay for themselves.

The building is also projected to be certified as Gold by Leadership in Energy
and Environmental Design (LEED), a rating system developed by the U.S.
Green Building Council.

Four different certifications are available – Certified, Silver, Gold and Platinum
– based the points scored for the building’s sustainable site development,
water efficiency, energy efficiency, materials selection and indoor
environmental quality.

Site development
Aspects for the site development include access to public transportation,
carpooling and how the building design accommodates storm water. The new
Sandy High School features a series of bioswales, a detention pond and eco-
roofs on two classroom wings in order to manage storm water.

“Anything that goes in the eco roof doesn’t have to go through any other kind
of treatment before it gets down to the detention pond,” said Buschert, a
LEED Accredited Professional.

Water efficiency
The new high school will capture storm water of off approximately 80 percent
of the roof surface and use a 600,000-gallon water cistern located under the
building to store non-potable water for toilets and irrigation. In a typical year,
the cistern is expected to sustain building usage throughout the summer
(when water needs are lower).

“Water is a much bigger deal than it used to be 10 or 20 years ago,” Buschert
said. “You can only imagine over the 75 year life of a building now, what are
we going to be saying about things like that in 25 or 50 years?”

Water fixtures, including dual-flush water closets, low-flush urinals, low-flow
showers and sinks, also contribute to the building’s efficiency, reducing the
building’s water usage by 77 percent, according to Buschert. That also
includes the newly installed landscaping, which will require no irrigation after
a two-year establishment period (temporary irrigation will be used until then).

Energy efficiency
A typical classroom at the new school has occupancy sensors that
automatically turn the lights off when nobody is in the room, plus daylight
sensors that will adjust the amount of light in response to the daylight in the
room.

The building also features photovoltaic panels that provide 10 percent of the
electricity the building needs (a feature that also meets the Oregon
requirement of 1.5 percent of the cost in renewable energy), with more roof
space dedicated to double that capacity, and solar panels dedicated to
preheating water.

Material selection
More than 10 percent of the building was built with recycled materials (such
as concrete and steel). Regional materials, such as brick, precast concrete and
cedar siding were also produced regionally (manufactured and sourced within
500 miles).
And to top it off, Hoffman Construction recycled 90 percent of construction
waste.
Indoor environment
The high school features four inches of rigid insulation in the walls and six
inches of rigid insulation in the roof (versus two inches and four inches,
respectively, in conventional buildings).

Buschert noted with that level, it will take less than 10 years to have the
insulation pay for itself.

“That’s based on prices of energy today,” he said. “So without even assuming
an escalation in price of energy, you figure out how quickly that pays back.
That one will pay off for 60 some years in the future.”

The building’s windows high efficiency, while sunshades are used on parts of
the building to provide maximum shading until the mid afternoon.

Other points are also given for ways the building can be used as a teaching
tool, including a green screen system planned for the new high school.

At the head of each classroom wing a monitor will display how much energy
the building is producing and how much each wing is using. Buschert noted
that plug load, including computers and other equipment, is an area that
requires the building’s user to manage, and perhaps the students will respond
proactively when they see data on the monitors reflecting their usage.

“The hope is maybe they get a little competitive about it and start asking
questions about why this one (wing) is using more,” he said.

The final LEED certification score is expected to take up to a year after
construction documents are submitted.