Charged up for change: The Lake County Forest Preserves transition to net-zero energy

The building looks as if it’s always been there. As though the flood plain forests of Ryerson Conservation Area near Riverwoods summoned the smoky green walls, floor-to-ceiling windows and sleek roof.

But the new Ryerson Education Center, opened spring 2024, is the culmination of three years of planning and an ambitious goal: create a net-zero energy building that produces as much power as it consumes each year.

“We want to raise the bar and set the example for green buildings and environmental sustainability,” said Alex Ty Kovach, executive director of the Forest Preserves. “Our goal is that this new building will become a viable model of long-lasting, energy-efficient design.”

There are many approaches to achieve net-zero. The first thing you decide is where to build.

“When you’re looking at a net-zero building, the placement is extremely important,” said Landscape Architect Becky Mathis.

She and Preserve Planner Greg Walenter managed the REC’s design and construction. There are trade-offs to consider. Shade eases cooling needs, but also diminishes the voltage that rooftop solar panels generate.

“We wanted it in a site that was already disturbed with proximity to resources and utilities. The educators want to be out in the woods, because that’s where they’re teaching programs.”

Location, location

The project team selected a site on the north side of the preserve’s entrance road where two rustic, 1940s-era cabins had hosted education programs since 1972. For decades within those walls, roughly 10,000 students per year had learned about local nature and history.

The cabins were cramped and not fully accessible. In 2022, the Forest Preserves sold them to two local buyers who dismantled the cabins to reassemble them off-site. That year, we hired Lake | Flato Architects to craft a worthy successor: a 2,900-square-foot education center.

Lake | Flato is one of the most prestigious architectural firms in the U.S., producing sustainable designs since 1984. Over the years, educators from the forest preserves wrote a wish list for what a new building should offer. Bigger, accessible teaching spaces. An outdoor classroom. Modern restrooms. Abundant windows. More Storage.

“Don’t just think about how you used the cabins, because they only handled school groups. Think about hosting adult education classes or a small conference,” said Environmental Educator Eileen Davis.

Better buildings

Opening the REC’s front door is an event. Though it glides, the door feels substantial, like a watertight barrier on a ship. This hints at the structure’s robust building envelope, composed of 16-inch-thick walls, foam insulation and an air barrier membrane.

“This is a continuous seal that starts underneath the concrete slab, rolls up into the walls and is connected all the way through the ceiling,” Walenter said.

The REC is eight times more airtight than commercial building codes established by the International Energy Conservation Code in 2018. When its energy recovery ventilator system isn’t running, the building leaks only 1% of the volume of interior air per hour.

“You want to see nature as you’re teaching in that space. Usually, the weakest link in a building envelope is the windows. The key was getting that much glass in while balancing it with heating and cooling needs. They’re triple paned and have a middle pane of bird-friendly glass,” Walenter said.

The center’s windows feature an ultraviolet pattern resembling dense branches. It’s easy for birds to see and steer clear but mostly invisible to people. Worldwide, about a billion birds per year are estimated to die from collisions with glass.

“We’re the first Phius-certified building to ever integrate bird friendly glass into triple-paned glass,” Mathis said. The green siding is made of poly-ash. It’s used like wood, but made from more than 70% recycled materials, including fly ash, a coal byproduct.

Phius is the Passive House Institute US.

Inside the foyer and classrooms, the walls and ceilings showcase logs milled from dead or dying oaks in the preserves. Water from the roof is channeled into a 4,000-gallon cistern underground. It supplies the toilets.

Including other site improvements such as a realigned entry road, dedicated bus parking and an accessible 0.2-mile paved loop trail, the project totaled $6 million.

Mathis thinks it will pay off. “When you look at the life span of a building, only about 20% on average is spent on construction and 80% is spent on maintaining systems, heating it, cooling it. While we spent more up front, we hope that energy savings will offset our investment in the building envelope after 12 years. As an organization with a 100-year vision, it makes sense for us to take the long view.”

The REC isn’t the only energy efficient structure at Ryerson. Built in 2006, the Ryerson Welcome Center employs sustainable material choices, use of natural light, geothermal heating and cooling and recycled rainwater.

It achieved certification as a Platinum LEED building from the U.S. Green Building Council, the highest possible level on its green building rating system.

“Our educators offer programs comparing the features of both buildings, said Director of Education Alyssa Firkus. “It allows us to see how technology has advanced and shows we continue to grow in the right direction.”

Field trips to learn about the building are available for grades 3-12. Visit LCFPD.org/school.

Mother Nature’s lessons

The REC is the first net-zero energy public building in Lake County to receive certification from the Passive House Institute US (Phius). According to Phius, “Passive building is a set of design principles for attaining a rigorous level of energy efficiency while also creating comfortable indoor living spaces,”

Educators from the Forest Preserves are applying these innovative techniques, drawing inspiration from Mother Nature.

Just as oak trees provide acorns with watertight shells and beavers build mud-and-stick walls to insulate their lodges, the building’s envelope protects its interior and regulates its temperature. Birds create warm pockets of air between their feathers to minimize heat loss.

The windows do the same between layers of glass. Plants convert solar energy into food through photosynthesis. Solar panels convert it into electricity. These parallels represent biomimicry.

Biomimicry is the design and manufacturing of materials, buildings and systems based on biological processes and organisms. Environmental Educator Jen Berlinghof hopes visitors will leave inspired to implement some of the REC’s techniques at home, such as installing solar panels.

“How do you make something energy-efficient? You don’t use as much and you figure out a way to make your own,” she said. “That’s the top thing people could do.”

A second phase to add two more classrooms is planned but currently unfunded. It’s estimated to cost about $4 million, Mathis said.

The Education Center was funded by a grant from the Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation, North Shore Gas, Abbott Laboratories, Medline Industries, Kevin and Jean Froeter, private donations and Lake County residents. See more about the building and find ways to reduce your energy bill, visit LCFPD.org/REC.

• Provided by Kim Mikus, communications specialist for the Lake County Forest Preserves. She writes a bimonthly column about various aspects of the preserves. Contact her with ideas or questions at kmikuscroke@LCFPD.org. Connect with the Lake County Forest Preserves on social media @LCFPD.