Park City schools set green goals

The Park City School District building in Park City, Utah. Photo: TownLift // Bailey Edelstein

PARK CITY, Utah. — This week, the Park City School District and Board of Education met, defined, and clarified its clean energy goals. These goals align with Park City Municipal and Summit County’s renewable energy plans. The Board of Education provided direction to their Facilities Team to incorporate energy efficiencies, green building materials, and design/build to a LEED Silver or Utah’s DFCM high-performance building standard.

The District and the Board are committed to pursuing Renewable Energy through the partnerships provided by HB 411 Community Renewable Energy Act with Park City and Summit County as anchor communities, setting a target of Energy Utilization Intensity (EUI) under 35, and building toward high-performance building standards.

The EUI is energy per square foot per year. It’s calculated by dividing the total energy consumed by the building in one year (measured in kBtu or GJ) by the total surface area of the building. The national average for K-12 education facilities is an EUI of 48.5. So, PCSD’s EUI of 35 is ambitious and good.

The Board of Education affirmed the community’s priorities related to the master facilities plan:

• Bring 9th grade into Park City High School
• Serve 6th, 7th, and 8th middle grades at Ecker Hill Middle Schoool
• Additions at the elementary schools along with additional wrap services space at 2 of the elementary sites to serve Pre-K
• Increase energy efficiencies and incorporate green solutions

“The master facility plan has been developed over a 2+ year period with the meaningful input of stakeholders throughout the planning process.  As the Park City School District Board of Education prepares to implement the plan, we look forward to additional community participation and engagement in setting the course for the Future of Learning.” — Erin Grady, BOE President