Creekside Elementary is a 49,000-sf elementary school located in Boulder, CO, for grades PK-5. The building was originally constructed in 1955 with numerous additions and renovations. In 2014, the school district decided that replacing the school would be the best approach to incorporate 21st century learning, current educational facility safety requirements, occupant comfort, and provide an energy efficient building.

The mechanical system for Creekside Elementary replacement school is a variable air volume (VAV) displacement ventilation system with decoupled wall fin radiator heating. This mechanical system provides a 30% energy reduction as compared to a traditional VAV system. The ventilation and cool air is provided at the floor level via displacement diffusers in the classrooms and near the floor level for the centralized spaces from rooftop air handling units. The rooftop units are provided with energy recovery and controls for optimization of outdoor air control for the occupants. The wall finned radiators are provided at the building perimeter to cover the building envelope load and avoid overheating the building occupants. The heating and cooling plants consist of high-efficiency condensing boilers and variable speed direct expansion compressors.

Creekside is provided with energy-efficient LED lighting on the interior and exterior of the building. A digital addressable lighting control system provides automatic control of the lights in the public spaces with vacancy sensors that provide automatic control in the classrooms, offices, and workrooms for space-by-space control. Learning spaces are provided with additional control of lights to allow the occupants to turn lights on and off to accommodate the needs of the teaching environment. The facility also includes an energy dashboard with electric metering for monitoring the building’s energy usage. Exterior building functions include an emergency generator that provides life safety egress lighting, electric charging stations for electric vehicles. The existing 100kW photovoltaic (PV) system (relocated from the existing school) will provide renewable power to the service now, along with new equipment to meet the requirements for a future Net Zero energy building.

Creekside’s energy model predicted 26 kBTU’s/sf as the energy usage intensity as compared to a normal high-efficiency building operating at 30-35 kBTU’s/sf. The actual operating EUI is 31.6. Creekside is designed to meet LEED Platinum and is one of the most energy efficient buildings in the school district.