Kentucky is No. 1 in net-zero

State first in U.S. to build schools that generate renewable energy

Richardsville Elementary in Barren County is the first public school in the nation to feed more energy back to the power grid than it uses.

December 2010 - Kentucky is leading the nation in the construction of net-zero energy public schools. Texas is the only other state with a potential net-zero project, but it has yet to begin construction. Kentucky’s public school systems, meanwhile, have substantially completed two net-zero energy schools with another in the planning stage.

Richardsville Elementary (Warren County Public Schools) is the first operational net-zero energy school in the nation. It opened for classes in October and cost $14.2 million. The architectural firm for this project was Sherman Carter Barnhart and the mechanical/electrical engineering firm was CMTA.

Turkey Foot Middle School (Kenton County School District) opened for the 2010 fall semester and cost $28 million. The architectural firm for this project was PCA, and the mechanical/electrical engineering firm was CMTA.

Both schools generate renewable electrical energy via solar photovoltaics (PV). Richardsville’s solar PV system became operational in November.
Turkey Foot Middle is a bigger school with a much larger solar PV system.
The system is being constructed in two phases, with the first to be completed in early 2011. {continued}