Vernon Secondary School
Vernon, British Columbia
Originally opened in 1968, Vernon Secondary School relocated to a new, three-storey, LEED Gold Certified building in 2013. The new school accommodates approximately 900 students and offers grades 8-12. The building has a proven track record of energy savings and uses approximately 60% of the energy of a conventional design and nearly eliminates carbon production.
The terminal equipment for this facility is based on a distributed heat pump system. The system utilizes a ground source heat exchanger to provide primary heating and cooling effect. As the new facility was on the same site as the existing school, a horizontal type heat exchanger was utilized and incorporates the area where the old building was demolished in the system. Other energy saving features include: domestic water preheated through geothermal systems, heat recovery from exhaust air, low consumption plumbing fixtures, and timed control exhaust systems through the building automation system.
Lighting is designed to 0.9 watts per square foot and is controlled in all areas via a room occupancy sensor. The classroom lighting control utilizes daylight harvesting to further reduce energy consumption.