Clearview Elementary School in Hanover, Penn., which earned a Gold LEED rating from the U.S. Green Building Council, has received an "Exemplary Sustainable Building Award" from the Sustainable Building Industry Council.

Architect John Boecker, AIA, of L. Robert Kimball & Associates accepted the award from the Sustainable Building Industry Council at a recent ceremony in Washington. This category recognizes integration of the whole building design approach and cost-effectiveness.

The LEED Gold rating was a remarkable accomplishment because the building was only designed to meet the Silver rating. Although projects generally have a few points contested, Clearview sailed through with all credits intact having achieved 42 out of 69 possible for a Gold rating (39 to 51 points).

Energy savings was clearly a primary goal. Clearview achieved all 10 of the available points for "Optimizing Energy Performance." Less than 10 percent of the LEED-certified projects have achieved all 10 points under EAc1. This achievement is particularly significant in view of the life cycle costs of a building.

This 43,000-square-foot high-performance K-4 elementary school completed in December 2002 has clearly shown that saving energy is affordable.

Even with the many innovative features, the building was completed within 2.25 percent of the average Pennsylvania school cost.

ECO-Block insulating concrete forms (ICF) was used for all the exterior walls, according to Boecker.

" ECO-Block provided us with a high-performance thermal envelope that contributed significantly to downsizing our HVAC system and reducing energy consumption," Boecker said.

Data taken on Feb. 17, when outdoor temperatures ranged from a high of 40 degrees to a low of 22 degrees, identified that the heat loss was only 4.5 degrees during the night set-back period. The heat pump was turned off at 1 p.m and restarted at 5:30 a.m. In only one hour, the desired room temperature was regained.

Key energy saving factors in this building were the site orientation for use of passive solar, geothermal heating and cooling systems, as well as the use of daylighting.

ECO-Block Insulating Concrete Forms were used for the exterior walls and some interior corridor walls. This mass-enhanced insulated wall system performs at much higher levels than the nominal R-22 of the expanded polystyrene foam walls. The monolithic concrete wall also contributes to low air infiltration, allowing for more efficient use of HVAC systems and better control of indoor air quality.