What makes Third Creek Elementary a Green School?

      Third Creek is the first elementary school in the nation to be registered with the US Green Building Council’s LEED Green Building Rating System. This means we’re minimizing the impact of the building on our natural resources. At the same time, we’re complementing our standard curriculum. It’s important that we teach our children to be caretakers of our environment.

     The technology incorporated into this building will also provide long-term savings in energy costs for our school system.

      Some of the “green” features include:
   •  A natural wetland to slow and filter stormwater runoff before it reaches a nearby stream. This wetland will also be used as an outdoor classroom and living wildlife laboratory.
   •  Additional landscaping and specific roofing materials  to keep the  building and parking lots cooler, lessening “urban heat island effect.”
   •  Orienting the building site to maximize natural daylighting in the indoor classrooms. Daylighting has been shown to improve children’s ability to learn while also reducing the energy consumption of artificial lighting.
   •  “Waterless” urinals, low flow automatic spigots, and other innovations to reduce water and energy consumption by at least 20%.
   •  Wall paint with a lower gas toxicity and therefore less odor.
   •  Energy recovery ventilation to dehumidify and constantly freshen the  air.
   •  High energy-efficient, water-source heat pumps for heating and  cooling.
   •  Wooden doors certified to come from environmentally responsible forests where clear-cutting is not done.
   •  High recycled content in the building’s concrete, which has turned out to be 10-15% stronger than we expected.
   •  Even the mulch used in the landscaping comes from trees that had to be cut down to build on the site.

      "The best part is that building 'green' doesn't cost extra," said Interim Superintendent Dr. Julia Williams.  "We set the budget for Third Creek before we began discussions of environmentally responsible construction. The project came in on time and in budget."

       Techniques we learned in building Third Creek Elementary will be used in future Iredell-Statesville school construction. For example, the district plans to build essentially the same school in the next few years on property already obtained off Brawley School Road near The Point to relieve overcrowding at Lake Norman Elementary.