Positive Impacts on a Student’s Learning Experience and Environment

• Upgraded and properly maintained systems create learning environments that are comfortable and limit noisy disruptions
• Promoting sustainability in tangible ways can provide hands-on learning opportunities for students
• Efficient buildings contribute to a better global environment, benefiting students’ well-being and their local communities

By adhering to the 2021 IECC, schools in Michigan can create optimized learning environments that prioritize comfort, health, sustainability, and innovation. These benefits not only enhance the day-to-day experiences of students but also equip them with knowledge and values for a sustainable future.

Why Choose Geothermal

Geothermal HVAC systems are now more affordable than other traditional systems and are recognized as the most energy-efficient and environmentally safe heating and cooling system by the EPA. Need to know more about what a geothermal HVAC system involves? Read more about utilizing geothermal for education facilities.

K-12 school districts with bonds voting in 2024 or later can begin planning now for these future energy savings and IRA incentive. Higher education institutions are also eligible for these federal funds. Partnering with GMB and our team of certified GeoExchange Designers can ensure you are maximizing the long-term benefits for your specific building needs, help achieve your sustainability objectives, and/or also assist in providing commissioning services for your systems, and training for your staff. Additionally, GMB will assist with documentation needed for the IRA application process.

The current IRA incentive, paired with energy savings, will mean more dedicated funds can be allocated towards updating school facilities, adding technology, and improving teaching and learning spaces. Read more about our partners at Allendale Early Childhood Center (pictured) who utilized a geothermal HVAC system to help achieve their sustainability objectives.

A green roof, also called a living roof, is an eco-friendly approach to roofing where the building top is covered with vegetation or plants. Green roofs may include herbs, grass, drought resistant plants, flowers, shrubs, and even edible fruits and vegetables. There are many options for living roofs, from sprawling gardens with perennials and fruit trees, to simple and low-maintenance plants like grasses and bushes. Because there is not as deep a layer of soil as in natural gardens, the choices can be limited on the plant types for green cover. There are many ways to creatively utilize green roof space and designs may include:

• Intensive, walkable roof gardens
• Shallower, performance-focused allotments
• Natural, flat gardens or raised beds
• Hanging garden with pots vertically lined up or multi-tier systems

Other Green Roof Considerations

Green roofs can be costly to build and maintain when compared to ordinary roofs, and not all roofs would qualify for a living plant system. One must factor in the cost of the additional foundation, soil, various plants, and the installation itself. Just as any garden, the maintenance of watering to keeping the plants safe from pests, insects, and other threats is an additional cost. It is also important that the property is not vulnerable to water damage. The longevity of the green roof and lifecycle of the facility will determine if the cost of the gardens will realize eventual energy cost savings.

Monroe County Community College – Campus Geothermal Conversion

After completing our analysis of the existing systems as well as facility constraints, GMB proposed replacing the existing three distributed boiler plants with new geothermal heat pump-based plants. The project consisted of three central geothermal heat pump plants, 244 bores and has a 600-ton cooling capacity. MCCC anticipates that the new geothermal system will yield an annual energy consumption reduction of around 27,000 MMBtu, which translates to energy savings of $275,000 annually, or $5.5 million over 20 years.

East Lansing Public Schools – Donley Elementary School

East Lansing Public Schools passed a bond proposal to replace all five elementary buildings in the district with an emphasis on sustainability. Donley Elementary incorporated a geothermal heating and cooling system paired with an onsite solar array for their electric-based HVAC system, which has realized significant energy savings for the district and an operating Energy Use Intensity (EUI) of 28.1 kBtu/sf-yr. This combination of energy solutions has yielded a building that has near zero site CO2 emissions and relies on the utility grid for an estimated 56% of its power needs. This project was recognized as a first-place winner in the ‘Education Facilities – New Construction’ category for the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) Western Michigan Chapter’s 2022 Technology Awards.

GMB recently completed commissioning services at Greenville High School. But what do we mean when we talk about commissioning a building? What are the benefits of this process, and when should commissioning happen?

Several decades ago, commissioning used to be reliant on the building contractors, construction managers, and the engineers to communicate with each other and check to make sure all the systems were operating properly. But because of various reasons, a thorough check of all systems and components didn’t happen.

“Early in my career, I was working on a project where we were renovating a wood shop in a high school that was about 25 years old. The shop teachers requested that the airflow be improved, that it had never been right,” says Trent. “When we removed the old system to replace it with the new, larger one, we figured out why the unit never worked properly for 25 years – the electrician had wired the fan backwards and no one checked the system before the building was occupied.”

When designing and constructing a building, we don’t always have the opportunity to prototype because every building is unique in many ways. Add to that the contractors, engineers, and construction managers who vary from project to project. Owners and occupants have expectations from temperature control to airflow and lighting comfort and energy performance, as well as technology access and speed; and all of those systems have to work together to do what their supposed to and meet expectations.

But what exactly is commissioning? As Tony says, “It’s about making sure a building operates the way it was intended to, and all a building’s systems work together for optimal performance. Besides the owner, we have so many different users in that building, including students, teachers, administration, community members, and the facilities people who keep it running – all with slightly different expectations. Checking each component and every system to be sure they’re working together seamlessly for everyone in the building is an important and often overlooked process.”

It’s somewhat like getting a home inspection before you buy a house, but on a commercial scale where a single building may have a hundred different pieces of equipment and thousands of other moving parts and control points. The mechanical engineer writes a sequence of operations for the building that specifies what each piece of equipment should do and when. The control contractor interprets, implements, and programs those sequences into the control system. As commissioners, we check each one of those commands to be sure they’re functioning as designed.

There is no wrong time to begin a commissioning project, as the primary goal is to identify and solve problems before they become large. When Tony can be involved in pre-construction meetings to understand the design intent and ask questions of the construction managers and engineers before the building breaks ground, he’s able to be proactive in resolving any issues that may arise.

“It’s a little more hands-on and a little more proactive approach, but it usually results in a win-win for the contractor and building owner alike, because they don’t have to go back and fix things.”

A Vision to be an Energy Leader in the Community

MCCC began to evaluate what a new infrastructure system would look like. A newer campus building was running on geothermal heat pump energy, and MCCC felt that this could be a solution for the original campus buildings as well. They desire to be a community leader, setting an example in environmental stewardship. The timing of these improvements also coincided with a bond issue vote to seek funding for facilities and infrastructure upgrades. Looking at alternate energy solutions helped position MCCC as good stewards of resources.

Project Goals & Guiding Principles

GMB worked with MCCC and their ESCO partner, Ameresco, to develop geothermal heat pump design, plant design, and select air handling systems. The following served as Guiding Principles that provided the framework for the project:

• Improved system life cycle costs – increase life cycle cost savings and reduce operating and maintenance costs
• Energy efficiency and environmental impact of system – reduce annual energy consumption
• Community perception – reinforce MCCC’s position in environmental leadership and financial stewardship

The Design & The Details

The existing building mechanical systems were showing their age and replacement equipment and infrastructure presented several challenges within the budget and existing space constraints.  The existing equipment rooms were tight and the constant volume reheat system which would no longer meet the energy code utilized a leaky supply air plenum rather than ductwork to distribute the air.  

Based on GMB’s analysis of the existing systems and facility constraints, we initially proposed replacing the equipment with roof-mounted, heat pump-based air handling units. We also recommended upgrading the constant volume reheat systems to a low pressure variable volume system with an actual ducted supply.

The large rooftop air handling equipment posed an aesthetic challenge. So MCCC instead chose to replace the original equipment with new traditional air handling equipment. This still utilized the low pressure variable air volume solution as originally proposed. In order to incorporate geothermal heat pump technology into this new concept, GMB proposed replacing the existing three distributed boiler plants with new geothermal heat pump-based plants. These plants utilize modular heat recovery chillers connected to the geothermal borefield to supply heating and cooling water to the new traditional air handling equipment.

The Results

MCCC anticipates that the new geothermal system will yield an annual energy consumption reduction of around 160,000 kWh. This translates to annual energy savings of $275,000, or $5.5 million over 20 years. The ground source heat exchanger has a life expectancy of 50 plus years compared to a 20-25 year life expectancy of conventional equipment. MCCC also expects a reduction in carbon emissions of over 1,000 metric tons per year.