Claire Lilienthal K-8 Expansion

The Claire Lilienthal K-8 Expansion includes a new, permanent two-story classroom and gymnasium building that replaces the existing portables and allows the middle school program to be housed on the same site. The building includes classrooms, a gymnasium and two innovation labs.

Capital provided extensive energy services for both pre-design and design phase, as well as providing the mechanical, plumbing and fire protection design engineering.

This landmark project serves as an instrumental prototype, as the first Net-Zero project for the San Francisco Unified School District. A zero net energy (ZNE) building generates enough energy on site to equal all energy consumed by the building and its occupants and achieving this goal requires knowledge of the best “real world strategies.” Capital implemented Variable Refrigerant Flow Technology, as well as All-Electric Roof Mounted Heat Pumps and High-Volume Low-Speed (HVLS) fans for the mechanical solutions.

Our engineers worked with the most knowledgeable equipment manufacturers representing the highest efficiency components, such as VRF Fan Coils and Heat Pumps, and coupled them with advanced energy control strategies to meet the net-zero energy goal.

The team modeled the building in Energy Pro. Daylighting was modeled using IESve with the Radiance plug-in and results were integrated into the EPro simulation by adjusting the annual lighting schedule. A “traditional” school schedule was used, which assumes 180 instruction days per year, 1 week spring and fall vacations, and Christmas and summer vacations.

Our results showed the building has done significantly better than its target energy use, and that the expected energy consumption is slightly lower than the generation potential

– this confirms the project has been designed to achieve ZNE, with a highly efficient system that uses less energy and saves operational costs.