Below is Ken Pruitt’s (Town of Arlington’s Energy Manager) Webex seminar about the planned sustainability features in the new high school.

Watch the presentation

Sustainability is integral to the new high school design and has been a priority from the very beginning. Following are the three core energy-related sustainability features:

1. build a highly energy efficient building
2. design for an all-electric building
3. maximize onsite renewable energy production.

In addition, the project team is developing plans to expand the on-site solar production. Unfortunately, soil contamination made the use of a ground-source heat pump system too expensive and risky. As a result, due to cost, schedule and environmental concerns, the Building Committee opted to remove geothermal wells from the project.

The sustainability features of the new school support the Town’s longstanding commitment to address environmental challenges and reduce energy use across all its facilities and operations. Aside from being the right thing to do, Arlington will receive approximately $3.5 million in additional reimbursement from the state by achieving at least a Silver level of energy efficiency and sustainable design, as measured by the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system from the U.S. Green Building Council.