School Project Breaks LEED Record

The U.S. Green Building Council has just awarded DC's new Dunbar Senior High School—designed by a joint venture between Perkins Eastman Architects, Setty & SK&A. —an unprecedented 91 LEED credits, breaking the previous LEED for Schools record by 5 credits.  The largest portion of these earned credits came from the LEED category EAC1 (Optimization of Energy Performance), in which the new building's design earned an impressive 18 of 19 possible points, indicating that the School, opened in 2013, is projected to save from 46% to 48% in energy costs with respect to an ASHRAE-established baseline building performance rating.  These savings are being accomplished through an array of energy conservation measures, including a geothermal well field (DC's largest), PPA-acquired solar panels, radiant flooring, an advanced lighting system with dimmable ballasts, and a rainwater harvesting system.