(Pictured left to right): Tom Rice, director of sales, SEMCO LLC, Columbia, Missouri, presents Paul Christy, superintendent, Clark County Public Schools, Lexington, Kentucky, and Ron Murrell Jr., Ross Tarrant Architects, Lexington, Kentucky, with the Center of Excellence Award for a sustainable and energy cost-reducing green design used at the new high school.

Kentucky’s Clark County Public Schools (CCPS) received the Center of Excellence award, Aug. 1, from SEMCO LLC, Columbia, Missouri, for a sustainable and energy-cost-reducing green design at the new George Rogers Clark High School, Winchester, Kentucky.

The 300,000-square-foot high school building uses a geothermal-based chilled water loop combined with SEMCO chilled beams and dedicated outdoor air systems (DOAS) for its innovative HVAC system. The state-of-the-art building is recording a 35 percent reduction in monthly utility costs versus the 30 percent smaller conventional high school it replaced. The school’s advanced IAQ helped contribute to a district-wide 1.5 percent attendance increase last year which earned a $200,000 government-awarded attendance incentive. Furthermore, the school is bigger than most high schools nationwide and ranks as one of Kentucky’s largest, but is recording a 31.9-KBtu energy use index (EUI), which ranks significantly less than the national average of 68-KBtu EUI.