Kentucky High School Saves 35 Percent in Energy Costs
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.