Rating System

LEED BD+C: New Construction, LEED BD+C: Core and Shell, LEED BD+C: Schools

Rating System Version

v3 - LEED 2009, v2 - Schools 2007, v2 - LEED 2.2

Inquiry

Our project is a new building in a technology energy park located in a currently undeveloped forested area in Malta, NY. The project is a higher education building consisting of classrooms and laboratories. The academic program offers students opportunities to learn sustainable energy technologies. Together the design team and the client have designed special features into the building and the landscape to feature the building as its own learning object. One of these features is two 5.8kw wind turbines located onsite that will contribute to the building energy load and the educational program of the school. The design team has already located the turbines on the site to take advantage of constructed clearings such as the parking lot and the building, but there are still some areas that will need to be cleared for construction of the wind turbine mast and maintenance access to the turbines. The team proposes that a turbine be considered a type of utility subject to the parameters for utility-related clearing as described in SSc5.1 and that the utility area needed to be cleared around the turbine be considered a "turbine utility easement." The area cleared for the "turbine utility easement" will be replanted with native grasses and low native shrubs that will be drought resistant and will not require irrigation. Additionally, the project team will submit a site plan locating the turbines and their respective "turbine utility easement" areas along with all of the set back distances of the tree lines of the site. The project team believes this is an adequate solution to the situation because it allows the school to maintain its sustainable goals and values while preserving the local forested environment around it.