Dear Friends,
There’s a delicious parallel between designing a magazine with sustainable, “green” features and designing a building with this same vision and positive environmental impact. In this, our first-ever electronic-only edition of Derryfield Today, both the content and the way it gets delivered have a unified vision – let’s look into the future of our school and begin to practice habits consciously designed to create a better future for our children.
The foundation of our Gateway Building has been poured, and the wood framing is about to begin – thus, the visible daily progress will move ahead dramatically. The timing of this issue of Derryfield Today could not be better for reflecting on all of the integrated features throughout the design and construction process. Here are some examples that show our commitment to thinking about a sustainable future:
· * All the demolition and construction materials have been recycled off-site, and diverted from landfills. To date, we calculate that 83% of all materials created through the demolition process (that is, the remains of the Art House) have been recycled. This totals more than 39 tons of recycled material. This does not even count all of the rescued bits and pieces from the building – our community literally crawled around the Art House looking for items they could use elsewhere.
· * An estimated 20 tons of site materials, including stone and retaining wall systems, have been stored in order to be repurposed or reused on the site.
· * The building has been sighted to reduce lighting needs. The south-facing pitched roofs have been designed to accept solar panels, and we are working diligently to try to make solar energy a reality on the project.
· * The roof assembly exceeds the energy code requirements by 37%, achieving an R 40.1 value.
· * The exterior walls exceed energy code requirements by 45%, achieving and R 28.3 value.
* Low E glass will be used in all exterior glazing, exceeding Energy Star requirements. Low E glazing controls heat transfer through glass and reduces solar heat gain. The use of Low E glass typically reduces energy loss by 30-50%.
* 51% percent of the carpeting in the building comes from recycled content, and 100% of the carpeting is formaldehyde-free.
· * 20% of the countertop material is post-consumer recycled content.
Whether you are reading this issue on-line, on your laptop, or are fortunate enough to have procured an iPad, I hope you enjoy the experience of learning how Derryfield will lead in area that is so essential for our students, our community and our planet.
Now . . . Onward to a green spring!
Sincerely,
Craig N. Sellers
Head of School
The Derryfield School
