The Putney School’s net-zero Fieldhouse is net-zero

After a year of monitoring, The Putney School’s net-zero Field House has
used 48,374 kWh of electricity while the sun-tracking photovoltaic cells
that enervate it have produced 51,371 kWh. That’s nearly 3,000 more
kilowatt hours produced than the building used.
Designed by Maclay Architects in Waitsfield and built by DEW
Construction Corp from Williston, the Field House was opened for use in November of
2010. The first negative power bill, created because the photovoltaics
continue to produce electricity regardless of the building’s needs, came
in April. At the end of the year, all of the usage and production numbers
came together to make a zero (plus a little extra). Thus, a net-zero
building.
The even better news, according to Business Manager Randy Smith, is that
the differential in cost between what the building drew from the grid and
what it sold back, because of a premium on green energy, was approximately
$3,800. In other words, the building was net-zero in terms of kilowatt
hours, but became a money maker because of recent legislation in Vermont
regarding green energy production.
The building is intended as a teaching tool. The message we really want to
convey is that it is absolutely possible, even at this latitude, to
affordably construct an institutional building that uses net-zero energy
with current materials and technology. We’re hoping that structures such
as ours will serve as the model for building codes in the coming decades.
You can monitor the Field House’s energy use and learn more about the
construction details at www.putneyfieldhouse.org.
Source: Putney School