Schools in Henrico County exemplify how LEED helps achieve energy goals

Two local high schools are a case in point for the county's green public building program.

In 2003, Virginia's Henrico County made a commitment to reduce energy use and its associated costs in county operations, including general government, public schools and public utilities, through its county-wide energy management program. It requires LEED Silver or higher for all government buildings, and currently, 25 LEED projects can be viewed in the county website's interactive map. Schools are integral to that aim, considering that the Henrico County Public Schools (HCPS) system is the sixth largest school system in Virginia.

With about half of its buildings more than 50 years old, Henrico County leaders felt its schools were due for a much-needed revitalization. The schools themselves are meeting the challenge, achieving energy efficiency, while also nurturing human health and wellness and educating the next generation.

Energy at the core

Highland Springs High School and J.R. Tucker High School are two of Henrico County's oldest. As such, they were prime candidates for rebuilding. Completed in 2021, each school building spans 265,000 square feet. The new buildings were constructed adjacent to the old schools, which remained operational to maintain continuity for students, faculty and staff.

The structures were designed in parallel, with sustainability top of mind. Henrico County's baseline LEED Silver requirement includes schools, and Highland Springs and Tucker rose to the occasion, going further to earn Gold-level certification.

While reducing operational costs was a huge factor in pursuing LEED certification, the county's school system wanted "to be more energy-conscious [and] have more sustainable practices as part of our day-to-day operations," says Susan E. Moore, director of facilities at HCPS.

The LEED Gold Highland Springs High School in Virginia. Photo courtesy of Maylone Photography and Moseley Architects.

Energy-efficient design strategies played a significant role in both schools being certified LEED Gold. "That allowed us to maximize our energy-related points and what catapulted us from a LEED Silver building to a LEED Gold building," says LEED AP BD+C and LEED Fellow Bryna Dunn, a vice president and director of sustainability planning and design at Moseley Architects.

Part of optimizing building energy performance entails minimizing its energy use intensity (EUI). For both high schools, Dunn notes that the target was 44 kBtu per square foot per year. The project team adopted an efficiency-first approach to design and construction, with architects, engineers and even lighting designers all working together to drive the EUI down.

Highland Springs and Tucker have LED lighting in place, a 92% efficient boiler for space heating, and mechanical systems with occupied and unoccupied modes. "We schedule our systems to cut back their operation in the evenings, so we're saving energy and not running our systems at full tilt 24/7, especially during the hot months, which also helps save us money," Moore says.

J.R. Tucker High School offers a high level of natural light through windows. Photos courtesy of Maylone Photography and Moseley Architects.

The biggest contributor to energy efficiency, though, was the shift to renewable energy, with roofs designed to be PV-ready. "We did a lot of solar master planning studies during design and made sure that if Henrico County wanted to put solar panels on the roof, the building was completely ready," says Dunn. "It would be plug and play."

The county had the forethought to partner with a provider early on, and as soon as construction was finished, the 1,005-kilowatt panels for Tucker and 885-kilowatt panels for Highland Springs were installed. These rooftop solar arrays have been generating more than a million kilowatt-hours of power annually for each school.

All these energy efficiency investments are paying off, with both high schools exceeding their EUI goals. Tucker's EUI, for example, is 58 kBtu per square foot per year, and the EUI offset from solar power is almost a third of that at 16.2, resulting in a net EUI of 41.8. On the other hand, Highland Springs' EUI is 45.1 kBtu per square foot per year, with a solar EUI offset of a third of that at 15.1, leading to a net EUI of 30. The two schools also garnered an Energy Star design rating of 89 from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, placing them at the top 11% of K-12 schools nationwide in terms of energy performance.

Rooftop solar arrays have been generating more than a million kilowatt-hours of power annually for each school. Photo courtesy of Henrico County Public Schools.

Enhancing health and wellness

Beyond environmental sustainability, Highland Springs High School and J.R. Tucker High School elevate human health and wellness. Both are already located in walkable neighborhoods and are close to transit lines. The project team took advantage of the surrounding open green spaces-and restored land, in the case of Tucker's old structure-to develop courtyards and multipurpose fields that encourage outdoor learning and engagement with nature.

Inside the building, large windows provide ample daylight and access to views, while temperature controls in classrooms and common areas enable flexibility when it comes to thermal comfort.

Indoor air quality was a top consideration, too, and the rebuilt schools were fitted with MERV 13 air filters. Managing indoor air quality began even earlier, though, treating the buildings as though they were occupied while being constructed.

"We specified that the contractor has to have a construction indoor air quality management plan to protect the IAQ of the building throughout that entire process," Dunn says. "So, when it was ready to turn over at the end of construction, it was nice and clean and had good indoor air quality."

Moseley Architects also used low-emitting materials in its adhesives, flooring materials, paints and sealants. The team investigated the sources of raw materials and gathered environmental and health product declarations for all materials and their ingredients.

Moseley Architects used healthy materials for the design of Highland Springs High School. Photo courtesy of Maylone Photography and Moseley Architects.

Buildings that educate on sustainability

Schools are places where students learn, but the buildings encompassing these learning environments can serve as teaching devices themselves.

For instance, energy dashboards at Highland Springs and Tucker are available for faculty and staff to integrate into their teaching curriculum. "That is something that will be a work in progress," says Moore, adding that Henrico County will "continue to look at how our kids can access that dashboard, see what the solar array systems are generating, as well as what kind of energy the building itself is using." This includes the difference between daytime energy usage at full occupancy and nighttime energy consumption for clubs, sports and other activities.

Dunn also conducted a virtual presentation for the Highland Springs Science National Honor Society, walking students through the LEED certification process and what the team accomplished from that perspective.

"I want the students to come out of school thinking it's normal to have solar panels. I'm hoping teachers are leveraging these resources and understanding this is teaching kids how to engage in their communities and make better choices," she says. "We're always trying to figure out how to make the school a teaching tool so that the school is not just shelter, but it's also a place where the kids can understand the world around them."

Looking to the future, Moore hopes to continue applying sustainable practices for both existing and new school buildings. She's looking forward to working with her educational counterparts to craft "programs and approaches to learning that help educate our students about what we're doing with our building practices-and how those practices affect our everyday living and our everyday pathways as far as energy consumption and sustainability."

Schools are more than sources of knowledge and springboards for discovery-they can also act as a blueprint for the next generation to build upon and carry forward a legacy of sustainability. HCPS is on its way to meeting that need.

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