Collection of work from ongoing and past projects as well as material from other authors. The collection builds on themes of The Inevitable Solar School but goes beyond and into the realm of sustainable building and energy in general.

Darlington Community School District Net Zero Energy Feasibility Study

The central question of this feasibility study is whether it is financially feasible for the Darlington Community School District (DCSD or District), using solar photovoltaic (PV) systems and battery energy storage systems (BESS), to implement zero energy at the High School (HS) and/or the elementary and middle school (EMS) today in 2020 or the following few years. This question is of interest to the DCSD specifically but is of broad interest to other public and private schools in Wisconsin and beyond. The interest is being driven by the continued decline of PV system and BESS costs, the growing need to respond to climate change, and the interest in educating students in energy systems, climate change, and renewable energy systems. The study team, Mark Hanson, Niels Wolter and Henry Hundt, examines a few possible physical designs as well as financial approaches to make net zero energy operation of schools possible in a fiscally responsible way, today.

This study is based upon work supported by the by the Public Service Commission of Wisconsin, Office of Energy Innovation and the Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE). The full report can be found HERE.

BUILDING ON BELIEFS

In spring of 2011, I wrote a piece for High Performance Buildings on Hoffman’s work with the Benedictine Sisters at Holy Wisdom Monastery in Middleton, WI. This LEED Platinum-NC facility was completed in 2009 and is setup to eventually achieve Net-Zero after adding additional solar PV over the years. It is a great example of how sustainable design can be applied over time, piece by piece until milestones are reached. The full article can be found HERE.