The Vermont Green Building Network recently announced the award recipients for Vermont’s Greenest Buildings. These buildings have the lowest documented energy use of all award submissions. Vermont’s Greenest Commercial Building is The Putney School Field House, owned by the Putney School and designed by a team lead by Maclay Architects, which uses only 10,200 BTU per square foot annually. The Charlotte House, owned and designed by David Pill is Vermont’s Greenest Residential Building with an annual energy intensity of 7,800 BTU per square foot. These leading energy efficient buildings use less than 10% of the regional average energy use of a commercial building and less than 15% of the regional average energy use for a home. In addition, both projects include renewable energy generation that more than offsets this low energy consumption making them net generators of energy.
The People’s Choice Award, selected by all attending the Summer Networking and Awards Event, was awarded to the Green Mountain Habitat for Humanity House in Charlotte as best representing the principals of sustainability. This project and the Beidick/Smith Home were the two recipients of Vermont’s Greener Residential Awards due to their very low annual energy use of 14,020 and 16,850 BTU per square foot respectively.
NRG System’s two buildings received Vermont’s Greener Commercial Building Awards which recognize buildings using at least 70% less energy than average. The NRG buildings each have annual energy use of about 18,000 BTU per square foot. These remarkably efficient buildings, along with seven additional submissions, were designed by Maclay Architects and their consulting design teams which in several cases included Andy Shapiro of Energy Balance.
Recipients of Going Green Awards, indicating energy use of at least 50% below regional averages, included the Community College of Vermont’s Winooski Academic Center, The Bennington Downtown State Office Building, Maclay Architects Office, Wheeler Brook Affordable Housing, Mountainside Residence, Dartt House, Cook Residence, the Tepfer Residence and Vermont Healthy Home.
Vermont Green Building Network recognizes the significant achievements of the owners, designers and operators of these buildings in demonstrating their sustainability through proven energy performance. These leaders show that truly energy efficient buildings are achievable and provide the industry with standards to which all high performance buildings should be compared.
The non-profit Vermont Green Building Network (VGBN) is the Vermont Chapter of the United States Green Building Council (USGBC). VGBN works with the building industry to achieve its vision that green building will be common practice in Vermont, contributing to a thriving local economy, a healthy environment, and a high quality of life in all communities. For more information visit www.VGBN.org.
Source: Vermont Green Building Network 8.23.2012