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The Chartwell School in
Seaside, California has earned a Platinum Certification from the USGBC.
The school website explains further the reasons that they were awarded the
highest certification honor:
What is significant about Chartwell School being
awarded LEED Platinum?
Chartwell School has become the first complete
educational campus ever to be awarded LEED Platinum
by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). Chartwell School was
engineered for success to
achieve LEED Platinum Certification for energy use, lighting, water and
material use as well
as incorporating a variety of other sustainable strategies.
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Chartwell School is an
educational institution specializing in children with special learning
needs:
The mission of Chartwell School, therefore, is to
educate children with a wide range of language-related visual and auditory
learning challenges in a way that provides them with the learning skills
and self-esteem necessary to return successfully to mainstream education.
Chartwell also helps individuals with specific learning challenges access
their full potential by providing leading-edge education, research and
community outreach. Chartwell
School Mission |
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At the Groundbreaking Ceremony
for this landmark campus, the Executive Director articulated the
philosophy of the school quite well:
Chartwell's modest history of succeeding where others have not
exemplified today by setting in stone and earth a new type of school. It
is a school that challenges us to lead rather than follow. It is a school
that causes us to look at ourselves, our students and our stewardship of
all that is important in ways that future generations will continue to
discover as essential.
What is essential is this... that the process of education is what
sustains a community. The more effective we are in our efforts to educate
the members, the more robust and sustainable will be our economic
activity, our public and private institutions, and the welfare of our
citizenry....Full
text of speech
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In addition, the following innovative features that are utilized on the
campus have rightfully earned the institution the Platinum status:
LEED Platinum Certification of Chartwell School was based on
a number of green design and
construction features that positively impact the project
itself and the broader community. These
features include:
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Net
Zero Electricity Design — Chartwell School has a 32 kilowatt photovoltaic
system,
estimated to produce more than 53 million watt hours annually
and offset the production of
54,000 lbs. of CO
2
annually
•
Water
saving — Simple choices like waterless urinals, dual flush toilets and an
8,700 gallon
rainwater cistern reduced campus water usage by 60%
•
Sustainable
framing — building 24 inches on center rather than 16 inches used 30% less
wood
while maintaining high construction standards, and the
majority of the new wood used in the
Chartwell School
project
was Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) Certified to verify that the wood
originated
from sustainable sources
•
Design
for Disassembly — Chartwell School received a grant from the U.S.
Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) to develop and implement new ways of
designing buildings for
disassembly to allow for classroom relocation and further
campus building phases. For
example, wood siding was fastened with clips screwed into the
backing for ease of disassembly
•
Slag
Concrete — adding slag, a waste byproduct from iron-ore production, to the
concrete mix
achieved a high-quality product that is stronger, lighter in
color, and reduces CO
2 emissions
by
70% compared to conventional concrete
•
Daylighting
and lighting controls — skylights and windows were sized and placed to take
advantage of the sun. Natural lighting saves electricity,
radically down scales the HVAC
system requirements, and has been shown to enhance student
learning in language arts and
mathematics by 20% or more
•
Low
VOC installations — Chartwell School intentionally selected furnishings,
finishes,
materials and equipment specifically designed to eliminate
pollution from Volatile Organic
Compounds (VOCs) and other sources, reducing the likelihood
of irritating or toxic fumes.
CO
2 sensors
in rooms monitor and adjust natural ventilation as needed
•
Reuse
and Recycle — 82% of the 2,570 tons of debris generated during the
construction was
diverted away from the landfills and was recycled