TLIGHT PRColonel Smith Middle School Complex
80% Less Energy Used
Through Lighting &
Daylighting Solutions
Completed in June 2012, Colonel Smith Middle School complex uses energy-efficient lighting and advanced daylighting strategies that help deliver an excellent education. All indoor and outdoor spaces are available for learning - every square foot counts! Entry to the school site and all areas of the building are designed to create interest, curiosity and learning opportunities for students.
Research shows a significant increase in student learning in classrooms with daylight and views to the outside. From its first architectural concepts, CSMS has been envisioned as a fully-daylit building with views from almost every classroom or office.
Skylights in the Gym provide game-quality light without glare. For Locker Rooms, shaded high wall frosted, insulated glass units allow light with complete privacy.
Super-efficient light sources include T5 fluorescent lamps and LED lighting systems using continuously dimmable drivers.
Every regularly-occupied space, including the Gym and Student Union, has been provided with a window, skylight or clerestory window, often with a combination of two or three to achieve a layered daylighting solution.
Electrical distribution includes discrete metering of lighting, HVAC and plug loads on a building-by-building basis to verify that the campus is operating equal to or better than the design phase whole-building energy modeling.
Teaching spaces are also provided with interior shades that permit video projector use.
To properly harvest natural light without increasing the cooling load energy use, the building obtains most of its daylight from the north sky through clerestory windows.
On the south exterior wall, windows are provided with exterior overhangs that prevent direct solar exposure in the summer while allowing passive solar heating during the winter. Windows and views on the east and west sides of the buildings are small by design and employ high performance glass that allows in light with minimum heat.
The building is equipped with high efficiency LED and electric lighting systems with state-of-the-art digital lighting controls that ensure a minimum amount of electric lighting is used when needed.
Motion sensors are used inside and out to make sure lights are off when spaces are not in use.
Overall, annualized lighting energy consumption is expected to be 80% less than a standard school building, making the building viable for Zero Net Energy certification when the customized photovoltaic system is added in the near future.
