San Benito C.I.S.D. To Unveil Its "Environmentally Friendly" Angela Gerusa Leal Elementary School Campus On August 22, 2011
July 30, 2011 9:19 PM
SAN BENITO — A new elementary school will teach students a big lesson in going green, school officials said. Next month, the San Benito school district will open the doors of the $7.8 million Angela Gerusa Leal Elementary School, designed by Mata*Garcia Architects LLP, the district’s first step into building an environmentally friendly school, they said.“This is the wave of the future,” Superintendent Antonio Limon said. Solar panels on the roof of the building will generate energy. “This school will serve as a model for future schools,” Principal Manuel Cruz said.
A $37 million bond issue that passed in 2007 funded construction of the school on FM 732, about three miles north of La Paloma, officials said. The 70,000-square-foot school will relieve overcrowding at La Paloma Elementary School in the district’s fastest growing area, they said. Over the school cafeteria, solar panels will heat water used to cook and wash, Limon said.“Whatever water that we would use electricity to heat will be heated by the use of solar panels,” Limon said. During its 30-year lifetime, the solar panel system will save the district $59,000, Sundance Solar, the company that installed the solar panels, said in a press release.
At the school’s two "Creation Station" project labs, solar tubes will light the rooms, Limon said. The solar lighting devices placed in the labs utilize more natural lighting inside the building, as well as offset some of the artificial lighting loads. Natural lighting is a green requirement as it enhances user comfort and health. These solar tubes can be left open throughout the day, or closed when the space is being used for video presentations. Insulated low-e glass at exterior windows cuts down on direct heat gain through a special coating in the glass. Additionally, all classroom windows have solar shading devices to cut down on uncomfortable glare. The large windows at the cafeteria feature pergolas to cut out direct light.
A metal roof with a reflective exterior finish will help deflect heat from the building cooled by a high efficiency air conditioning system, officials said. The metal roof and walls are of a highly reflective galvalume metal panel which will be very effective in cutting down solar heat gain. Water tanks will catch rainwater that the school will use to irrigate a landscape design native to Texas, they said. “A metal roof will provide for a cooler building inside because it will reflect more sunlight and allow for the collection of rainwater and early morning condensation that will run down the roof and into water cisterns located all around the building to catch the flow of water,” Limon said. A butterfly garden, just outside the spacious science lab, will enhance lessons learned in the lab. This outdoor classroom will use many of the sustainable features found throughout the campus in a setting students can use.
Addtional sustainable feature of the school are: High Efficiency Lighting - The bulbs for the general lighting throughout the building have been changed from T-8 to T-5. This is expected to lower the building’s energy consumption between 15% and 20% conservatively. Linoleum Tac-Wall surfacing: Used in the "Creation Station" labs as well as in the Fine Arts lab, the surfacing allows for greater utilization of vertical areas for displays. This linoleum product is certified green guard as it contributes to improved indoor air quality. Low and Zero VOC paints and coating: VOC stands for Volatile Organic Compounds which are inherent in most traditional paints and are a major contributor to the condition of the indoor air quality of a building. All plywood casework: Traditional particle board, generally used under plastic laminate because it’s more economical, was not allowed on this project due to VOC content in the binders. MGa opted to use all plywood casework which contains Zero VOC's and is more durable.
The school offers its students a lesson in building for the future, Cruz said. “We can use this as a tool to teach students how to be more earth-friendly and in these hard economic times we can all learn how to take steps to save money,” Cruz said.
Can we go visit campus before opening?
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