School Energy Savings & Environmental Impacts
Designing better learning environments...
Innovative Design has now designed over $300 million in school facilities. In all of our schools, controlled natural lighting strategies have been integrated into the design, because daylighting has been proven to:
- drastically reduce energy costs by up to 64%;
- save on the up front expense of cooling and electrical equipment, thereby keeping costs within budget;
- cut the expenses associated with long-term mechanical and lighting equipment maintenance;
- produce superior lighting conditions; and
- improve health and increase attendance.
Despite the extensive daylighting incorporated into these schools, the entire investment in daylighting is recouped by the school systems within a couple of years.
See
Study on Energy Performance of Daylit Schools in North Carolina- by Michael H. Nicklas and Gary B. Bailey
Our 15 new daylit schools and 41 renovated schools have saved our clients 2.1 trillion Btu's, an amount equal to $52 million. These schools are now saving in excess of $4.4 million annually.
Over the past two decades, the solar and energy-efficiency features incorporated into our 4700 buildings have saved over 4.2 trillion Btu's, an amount equal to $104 million.
We have eliminated 820,000 tons of carbon dioxide and, if converted to oil, have reduced imports by the equivalent of 30 million gallons.
If you equate the peak hourly savings of Innovative Design’s buildings to a central power plant,
our energy savings displace the need for 32 Megawatts of primary energy.