School Building in Hawaii Achieves "Living" Status
It’s official—yesterday, the International Living Building Institute announced that the Energy Lab at Hawaii Preparatory Academy, in Kamuela, had achieved Living Building Challenge certification—only the third project in the world to do so. The “Challenge,” a program created by the Cascadia Green Building Council, is widely regarded as the most demanding green building certification system. Among its 20 “imperatives” is a requirement that buildings generate all their own energy from renewable source onsite—a goal that the lab, designed by Boston-based Flansburgh Architects, vastly exceeded. In the first year of operation, the roof-mounted PV panels generated more than twice the electricity than the highly efficient building consumed, sending the rest to the campus grid. Other requirements of the challenge include net-zero water and the exclusion of potentially toxic substances on its “Red List,” such as halogenated flame retardants and formaldehyde. Keep your eye out for the May/June issue of GreenSource, where we will be featuring the project. For more information on the Challenge, check out Record’s piece, "Live/Build/Sustain."