by Shane Henson — October 29, 2012—A new charter school in Lamar, Colorado, has the double distinction of being the first school in Colorado to meet the Collaborative for High Performance Schools’ (CHPS) green school rating program, and the first school in the nation to attain CHPS Verified Leader status.
Alta Vista Charter School (AVCS) is a K-6 charter school in southeast Colorado. It is projected that the school’s design will reduce energy consumption by 54 percent as compared to an average school. The design combines a high-performance building envelope to achieve energy efficiency, with a geo-exchange ground source loop heating and cooling system to product renewable energy. The project also used the Flex Energy Tool, which allows the school to plan for energy strategies for the future, says CHPS.
Daylighting strategies allow for lights to be turned off during the day and create significant energy savings as well. The project also used rapidly renewable and recycled content materials throughout the building, and during construction over 70 percent of the construction waste was recycled or reused within the community.
According to CHPS, the project includes an additional 23,000-square-foot building and a renovation of the original schoolhouse, built in 1917. The school was designed by SLATERPAULL Architects and constructed by JHL Constructors. The school received a grant from the Colorado Department of Education’s Building Excellent School’s Today (BEST) program and funding from the Gates Family Foundation.
Bill Orr, executive director of CHPS, which is a leading national movement to improve student performance and the entire educational experience by building the best possible schools, congratulated the school, saying, “The students and staff, families, and the community will be reaping the benefits of this healthy, high-performance, green place of learning for years to come.”
