Book Smart

The new Whistler Public Library, located in the resort community of Whistler, British Columbia, recently received a Gold certification under the auspices of LEED for New Construction (LEED-NC), according to a recent article.

The building excelled for its passive solar design principles, its geothermal heating and cooling system, its high-efficiency baseboard heaters, and its compact fluorescent light bulbs, according to the article.

"You basically get a plaque and you get to say that you've actually achieved what you said you were doing," said Ted Battiston, strategic energy emissions manager for the Resort Municipality of Whistler.

The certification comes one year after it was reported that Whistler’s new library were actually 35 percent higher than library administrators and project managers had been hoping for. The higher energy costs were due in part to a malfunctioning geothermal heating and cooling system, the article said.

Regardless of the energy expenses, Battiston believes that the project still would have received a Gold certification, even if they hadn’t been undertaken.

“Not all the points from a LEED certification come from energy,” Battiston said. “Energy’s a big part of it, but it’s by no means the only point.”

The library is currently using 40 percent less energy than average as tested by the Model National Energy Code for Buildings, which provides a national model benchmark for all Canadian buildings to compare to.

The library opened in January 2008, and also won the 2010 WoodWorks British Columbia Wood Design Architect Award, the article noted.

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Chris Timmerman
Contributing Writer
Green Education Services
www.greenedu.com