Carroll County Sees 'Green' in New Construction

By Cindy Parr

Carroll County has embraced state initiatives to go "green," constructing schools and facilities that are more cost efficient and environmentally friendly.

In recent years, Carroll County has benefited from state assistance with several green building projects. Both Carroll County government and Carroll County Public Schools have constructed a number of facilities that incorporate recycled materials, geothermal systems and other sustainable technologies deemed environmentally friendly.

For Carroll County government, green construction has been a topic of conversation for more than a decade. Several projects have been completed, and officials are hopeful that the environmentally friendly facilities will ultimately reflect significant cost savings.

Tom Rio, public works director for Carroll County government, said it was necessary for his staff to get up to speed on green building technology when the construction industry started to move in that direction in the late 1990s.

“It was important for us to educate ourselves on the principles as we could see the trend for the design and construction industry was going in that direction,” Rio said.

At first, staff attended workshops with HVAC (Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning) manufacturers to learn about their products, and ultimately state agencies such as Maryland Department of the Environment to learn about projected cost savings.

Over the last 10 years, Carroll County government has constructed three green buildings: the Finksburg Library, South Carroll Senior and Community Center and Carroll Community College’s Classroom Building #4.

Each one of these facilities has incorporated an efficient design that features optimal building orientation, minimal impervious surfaces, reduction of building footprint and the least amount of site disturbance.

Each one of these new facilities has also incorporated technology that minimizes water usage. This has been accomplished by installing waterless urinals, dual flush toilets, censored faucets and capturing and reusing on-site water for system operations.

“At the Finksburg Library, we are able to retain storm water runoff on the property,” Rio explained. “This is one of the highlights of using a geothermal system. We would normally have used storm water ponds to collect the water. Now we keep the water on the property and return it to the water table.”

In addition to water improvements, some buildings have taken advantage of solar power. In one facility, it serves as a source for supplemental power.

“Carroll Community College is able to heat all of its water for Classroom Building #4 with solar,” Rio said. “The savings related to this effort are not known at this time, but it is certainly expected to lower the overall costs associated with operating the building.”

Three Carroll County Public Schools have completed green oriented projects: Ebb Valley Elementary, Manchester Valley High School and a geothermal renovation at Westminster High School.

Ray Prokop, director of facilities for Carroll County Public Schools, said that both Manchester Valley and Ebb Valley, while not LEED certified, meet the criteria required to receive a Silver certification. 

Developed by the United States Green Building Council, the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) System has become well known for its certification guidelines for rating green buildings.

“The LEED Silver certification has a checklist with points whereby you must achieve a certain number to be considered,” explained Prokop. “These points are not just about the building and the way you construct, but also the materials used in the building process. If you recycle materials from the project, the design, parking for high-efficiency vehicles and bike racks are examples of other checks on the list.”   

Prokop said that many of CCPS’s schools are considered green because of the way they are managed and because of the curriculum taught to students.

From a capital perspective, all new projects receive a life cycle analysis, which according to Prokop helps staff assess the balance between energy efficiency and maintainability.

“We have found that geothermal is giving us a 30 percent or more reduction in energy usage as compared to a traditional system,” he said. “The engineering and science are there to show us this works.”