High-Performance, Low Pollution High Country Supplies Critical Components For College Eco-Dorm By Miles Tager It’s never going to move, but after only two months is nevertheless performing well. That’s because the eco-dorm at Warren Wilson College, one of the first ever built in the United States, is already serving its purpose - conserving energy and reducing pollution. Two High Country partners in the enterprise, Associate Professor Jeff Tiller at ASU’s Department of Technology, and Harmony Exchange of Boone, provided critical components for the structure that has already become a model for future building, according to architect Duncan McPherson. McPherson leads a tour of the building on the campus outside Asheville, talking about its performance not for the first or last time; he has already escorted a party from Germany around the building and a group of business leaders from Russia is expected soon. “We have had a lot of response, including from parents of the students living in the dorm,” McPherson said, The thirty-six students moved in at the beginning of semester in August to the passive solar structure that features dozens of design strategies that will save on heating, cooling and water. As a result, the eco-dorm will dramatically reduce output of pollutants like carbon and sulfur dioxide, leading culprits in ground level ozone and other known threats to human health. Built by Samsel Architects of Asheville, the building utilized the latest ‘SIP’s’or Structurally Integrated Panels from Insulspan and Harmony Exchange, the core of the conservation-minded project. “All the exterior walls and roof use the SIP’s,” McPherson said. This “alternative to traditional stick-frame construction features a continuous four foot insulated panel that is much more efficient,” McPherson said. The tighter fit and fewer seems “is the name of the game,” and saves bundles of energy right off the bat. In addition the pre-cut panels “minimize waste,” McPherson said. Tiller devised the heating and cooling system (no air-conditioning) that includes radiant floor heat (no vents to lose energy), and a heat recovery system that wastes not. The system monitors itself, with Tiller setting up the data-gathering from sensors operating continually across the 9,000 square-foot dorm to measure consumption, temperature and even humidity, tracking everything “from hour to hour use and seasonal fluctuations,” McPherson said. That data will not only be collected but will be posted on the college website, giving instant information that could lead to further savings. Other highlights include the steel roof, longer-lasting and better cooling than asphalt shingles, wood gathered from the campus, including quantities of pine-beetle damaged pine, and a water collection system that begins with a recycled train tanker car and rainwater gathered in a cistern for the composting toilets to flush. All of the eco-dorm faces “within 10 degrees of true south,” and uses photo-voltaic panels and shaded overhangs, McPherson said. Initial higher expenses like the steel roof will more than pay off in the long-term savings, McPherson said, but the costs were not through the roof; about $140 per square foot as opposed to $120 per square foot for the adjacent traditional dorm structures built only a few years ago, also by Samsel. A “very preliminary analysis” shows that the dorm could save up to 1,600 therms and 6,500 Kilowatt-hours per year, which translates to “about a 50% energy savings,” McPherson said. To put that in perspective, McPherson said the savings could add up to thousands of pounds - tons - of pollutants not being released into the air. McPherson is a founder and Vice-president of the Western North Carolina Green Building Council, which is conducting a Public Forum on Building Green in Western North Carolina Friday, October 3 in Asheville. For more information go to www.wncgbc.org; the Warren Wilson website is www.warren-wilson.edu/main/. The Harmony Exchange website is www.harmonyexchange.com/.