Minister of Education opens first green school in Northern Ontario

The Honourable Kathleen Wynne, Minister of Education, visited Valley View Public School today to celebrate the grand opening of Northern Ontario’s first green school. Minister Wynne marked the historic occasion by presenting a plaque and a flag to the school on behalf of the Province of Ontario.

“Green schools like Valley View Public School in Sudbury are helping to create a greener Ontario.  These schools engage students through environmental education and environmentally sound practices,” said Minister Wynne.

Rainbow District School Board Chair, Judy Hunda, commended the Province of Ontario for investing in green schools. Valley View Public School, the Board’s first new school in 40 years, is a model for sustainable development.  "The actions we take today will affect the planet our students inherit tomorrow,” said Chair Hunda. “Valley View Public School is a shining example of how we are putting sound environmental practices in place to support global thinking at a local level.”

Go green features in Valley View Public School include geothermal heating and cooling systems, radiant floor heating, displacement ventilation, occupancy sensors, waterless urinals, sun screening devices and a wetland biofilter to remediate sanitary waste. These features protect the natural environment, provide a healthy place to learn, reduce energy consumption and operating expenses, and make Valley View Public School an exceptional learning and teaching tool for students and staff.
 
Rainbow District School Board is realizing significant savings in energy consumption with the green features incorporated into the building. “In this day and age where climate change and greenhouse gases have become household words, we need to do all that we can to reduce our environmental footprint,” said Chair Hunda. “We are instilling a culture of sustainability among our youngest citizens and this will have a powerful impact on their future, the future of our planet and the future of generations to come.”

Director of Education Jean Hanson praised the staff and students of Valley View Public School for their commitment to sustainability. “This new green school is, by far, Rainbow District School Board’s most significant investment in our efforts to go green, a tangible example of the vision that we share for our schools and the communities that we serve. The staff and students of Valley View Public School are proud pioneers in the process.”

Ameresco Canada oversaw the $15 million construction project on behalf of Rainbow District School Board. “Ameresco is pleased to work in partnership with Rainbow District School Board to help build a quality and efficient facility that will set the standard for new schools being built in the province,” said Tim Dettlaff, Senior Vice-President of Asset Planning for Ameresco Canada.

What makes a green school?

The new Valley View Public School incorporates national Go Green environmental certification principles – industry ‘best practices’ for resource consumption, waste management, building materials, the interior environment and occupant awareness. Good acoustics, lighting, thermal comfort and air quality in the 65,000 square foot facility is reducing operating expenses, protecting the natural environment and improving the health and productivity of students and staff, while lowering energy consumption.

The Architect and Sustainable Consultant designed the school with a north/south orientation, maximizing windows on the north and south faces of the building. Sun screening devices and glass are used to optimize the amount of natural light in the school, obtain solar heat gain in the winter and avoid undesirable solar heat gain in the summer.

This approach has many benefits. It provides a learning environment lit with natural light, reduces the need for artificial lighting, takes advantage of passive solar heating during the winter months and shades the hot sun of the summer. When rooms are not in use, occupancy sensors integrated with the artificial lighting systems automatically shut lights off. This type of lighting creates significant energy savings.

The use of geothermal energy systems in the new school provides four units of energy from the ground for every unit of energy purchased from conventional sources. This efficiency is unequalled by other conventional heating and cooling systems. Geothermal systems heat and cool the school by tapping into the relatively constant temperature of the earth below the frost line, at significant energy savings.

The building has radiant floor heating. Cooled/tempered air is delivered to classrooms using displacement ventilation concepts. Displacement ventilation provides fresh and tempered (cool) air to classrooms at floor level. Displacement ventilation systems typically use 100 per cent outdoor air. As a result, air pollutants generated within the building are removed at the source and are not re-circulated. The displacement ventilation system improves the indoor environment. The water reuse system in the school conserves water use and demonstrates sustainability to students. A wetland biofilter remediates sanitary waste from waterless urinals and low volume flush toilets, diverting approximately 70 per cent of the remediated water to re-circulate in toilets throughout the school.

Washroom fixtures use minimal water. The wetland biofilter, a series of filters and planting beds, illustrate natural process remediating methodologies. And, conventional field beds on the site are being used to dispose of excess greywater. The school is not connected to the municipal sanitary system. The water reuse system saves water and teaches students the value of water conservation.

A number of additional sustainable features have been incorporated into the building, including the use of building products with recycled content. The school has retroplated concrete floors with recycled glass chips collected by the students. Wood beams from the old Valley View Public School are being reused as interior benches and architectural accent features.

The school’s waste management program documents diversion of waste products from the construction to recycling facilities in the City of Greater Sudbury. The building incorporates Smart IT systems, making use of state-of-the-art technology such as Smart Boards.

Project Team:
Architect                                     Castellan James + Partners Architects Inc.
Sustainable Advisor                    Tom Tamblyn – Dearness Conservation Society
Mechanical/Electrical Engineer    LKM SNC Lavalin
Wetland System Engineer             Ecoworks Technologies Inc.
Civil Engineer                                Northland Engineering (1987) Limited
Structural Engineer                        Halsall Associates Limited
Landscape Consulting                    Bill Fryer Landscape Architect
Contractor                                    Ameresco Canada Inc.

Rainbow Schools Go Green:
Education for sustainable development was introduced in Rainbow Schools in partnership with the Dearness Environmental Society in 2000.  At that time, Dearness Conservation was offered as a curriculum-based Grade 5 or Grade 9 level program aimed at engaging students and staff in activities that promote energy efficient practices and environmentally-friendly behaviour.  It has since evolved into the much larger “Rainbow Schools Go Green” education initiative, with the goal of fostering sustainability at school, at home and in the community.

In November 2007, Rainbow District School Board was recognized provincially for its outstanding commitment to energy conservation. The Board received a Certificate of Recognition for Energy Conservation from Peter Love, Chief Energy Conservation Officer of Ontario, at a special ceremony at Valley View Public School.

"Schools are more than bricks and mortar. They are special places where students learn life lessons as well as reading, writing and math,” said Peter Love. “Rainbow District School Board has taken a leadership role by teaching students about conserving our valuable resources. These are lessons that students will keep forever, and share with family and friends… contributing to a culture of conservation in Ontario."

Rainbow District School Board has undertaken a number of environmental initiatives with positive results. Provincial recognition of these efforts is a tribute to Rainbow Schools’ administrators, custodians, teachers and students who have made energy conservation a priority in their schools and have taken leadership in transferring this knowledge to their homes and communities. It is also a tribute to the Board’s environmental partners, including Ameresco Canada and the Dearness Environmental Society.
 
Rainbow District School Board’s overall energy cost savings since the inception of Go Green initiatives in 2003 totalled approximately $468,316.  Consumption savings were 900,022kWh for hydro, 786,564 cubic meters for gas and 5,714 GJ for oil and propane. More savings are imminent with the construction of the new Valley View Public School.

New green school in Sudbury West
Rainbow District School Board’s second green school, to be located on Sixth Avenue in Lively, will bring together students from George Vanier Public School and Jessie Hamilton Public School. The school, scheduled to open in the fall of 2009, will offer English and French Immersion programs for students in JK to Grade 6. Like Valley View Public School, the new school in Sudbury West will be a model for sustainable development. 

About Valley View Public School:
Valley View Public School is a JK to Grade 8 French Immersion school with an enrolment of 475 students. The school is barrier-free and has space for lower class sizes in the primary grades as well as physical education, instrumental music, visual arts, computer technology, a library and special education. The school also houses a daycare and before and after school programs in state-of-the-art facilities.

About Rainbow District School Board:
The largest public school board in Northern Ontario, Rainbow District School Board has 38 elementary schools and nine secondary schools offering programs in English, Core French and French Immersion. Rainbow District School Board covers a geographic area of more than 14,000 square kilometres in Sudbury, Espanola and Manitoulin.

About Ameresco Canada:
Ameresco Canada is a leader in providing asset management and accommodation planning, facility renewal, energy management and renewable energy solutions to its customers.  With numerous offices throughout the country, Ameresco Canada has more than 30 years of experience in the K-12 education market in Canada, and has completed more than 150 projects and generated over $450 million in facility-related savings.

For more information about the New Valley View Public School and Rainbow District School Board’s Go Green initiatives, log on to rainbowschools.ca.

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Media Contact:
Nicole Charette, Senior Advisor,
Corporate Communications and Strategic Planning,
Rainbow District School Board, 705.674.3171, ext. 7217