Going green can be the solution to budgets that can't budge

Owing to a state law that caps operating cost increases, Indiana's public libraries face a serious problem when they want to expand facilities or add new branches. When the Town of Chrisney saw the need for a branch library, the biggest obstacle was not how to fund the building but how to fund the monthly operating cost increase to the local library district budget. The solution: a hybrid building that will produce as much power as it uses.

Small branch, small budget

The Town of Chrisney heard from its citizens that they needed a library to eliminate the 30-mile round trip to the Lincoln Heritage Public Library district's only facility in Dale. While Chrisney applied for the grant to conduct the needs study, it would be the library district's responsibility to operate the building. An elementary school in this village of 540 is the only public educational facility. The study steering committee looked to the North Spencer County School Corporation as a possible collaborator to bring a library to town, perhaps sharing school media center resources to hold operating costs down. Through a series of open meetings - with the library board, the school board, the steering committee, and the general public - we discovered that the solution most favored by all was an independent library building, close to the school, with a safe walking path from elementary school to library. A site search revealed that the ideal site is adjacent to the elementary school's outdoor learning lab and owned by the school corporation. We were able to convince the school corporation that it would be in its best interest to donate the land to the town for the library. A grant would be pursued to fund this 2400 square foot building, which the study determined could be completed for a total project cost of $497,000, with construction accounting for $391,000.

The boon of renewable energy

Meetings with the library board made it clear that operating expenses for a new branch would be the biggest remaining hurdle. In order to reduce this expense, the design team decided to work with renewable energy in the form of natural daylighting, natural ventilation, passive solar design, active solar hot water, photovoltaic electricity, and geothermal heating and cooling. Sited on a hill in a grove of century-old oak trees, the building will take its cues from the many historic Carnegie libraries of Indiana to use natural shade, natural daylighting, and, weather permitting, natural ventilation. Natural ventilation and daylighting will be enhanced by a vented clerestory with remotely operable windows. Additional cooling during summer can be accomplished with a geothermal heat pump system. During winter, a thermal slab floor will be heated by sunlight via the active solar hot water system, backed up by the geothermal heat pump when needed. An array of photovoltaic panels will provide shelter over a new Learning Power Pavilion located in the sun beyond the grove of trees. The Learning Power Pavilion will be an outdoor amphitheater that can be used by students enjoying the outdoor learning lab, or it can be used for outdoor story hours and other library programs. We have applied for a grant to cover the cost of the solar array, and American Electric Power has pledged to help provide matching funds for the state renewable energy demonstration grant. The Learning Power Pavilion and the library building are also designed to capture rain water for irrigation and store it in a cistern on site. This hybrid building will employ all these energy flows together to provide 100 percent of the net power needs for the building from energy produced on site. For half the year, the building will actually be selling more energy back to the power company than it is buying.

A feasible plan

Community support for the project has been incredible. Over 270 people, or half the population, showed up at a public hearing, and the $50,000 goal for matching funds was exceeded in just six weeks. The town has agreed to pay water and sewer bills for as long as the library exists and maintain the grounds for the first two years. A list of volunteer staff, mostly retired school teachers, has been compiled to cover staffing for the first two years. Grant funding for Chrisney is expected in July 2007, with the opening July 2008. Hybrid buildings may become much more common as energy costs and concerns over climate change and pollution continue to grow and renewable energy options drop in cost. Producing power on site from the sun offers a sense of energy security and budgetary predictability that fossil fuels cannot provide. For commercial buildings, a range of tax credits can make such systems more affordable. For public buildings, where operating costs may be the biggest problem, hybrid buildings offer an elegant and effective solution. For other locations, wind power, microhydropower, or biomass power may be part of the hybrid energy mix. Our experience has shown that projects that combine renewable energy, education, and the environment are grant magnets, which levels out the initial cost and makes payback time on investment very short. In the future, these projects may also qualify for carbon credits or other incentives to limit carbon emissions. While economics drove this library plan, there are obvious educational opportunities here. The building will teach the public about the advantages of passive and active solar design, daylighting, healthy indoor air quality, and onsite renewable energy. Chrisney Library will illustrate a relevant and timely message about how to address climate change, one building at a time. It will tread very lightly on its lovely wooded setting, giving more back than it takes here as well.

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Author Information

Bill Brown, AIA, LEED AP, is an Associate Partner at the Indianapolis firm Browning Day Mullins Dierdorf Architects. He is a national award - winning library architect who served on the Greening of the White House task force and the American Institute of Architects National Committee on the Environment