Judson gets gold LEED rating for energy efficiency

It's a simple equation - green saves green.

It can also earn gold.

Judson University in Elgin Wednesday received a gold LEED rating for the Harm A. Weber Academic Center, its recently built, energy efficient learning center.

Principals from Elgin-based Burnidge Cassell and Associates, the architects of the project, gave President Gerry Cain the award from the U.S. Green Building Council, the national organization that certifies and rates when a building has met green building and performance measures.

The $22 million, 88,000-square foot building, which opened in 2007, features 13 separate designs for energy efficiency. They include using solar power to light its rooms and control its blinds; natural ventilation; and a geothermal well field helps heat the building during the winter, and cool it during the summer.

Exposed precast concrete conserves those heating and cooling demands. Stormwater runoff from the building is filtered by bioswales help the campus' wetlands.

The building, according to Burnidge Cassell and Associates officials, was built to use about half the energy a structure of its size normally would.

Judson architecture professor David Ogoli said Wednesday the university is still trying to track the actual energy consumption numbers and the costs paid on bills. However, based on the bills the University received through last September, total energy usage is 497 thousand British Thermal units, or BTU, per square foot compared to 929 thousand BTU per square foot for a comparable building of its size.

"This denotes that (the Center) has an estimated energy savings of 47 percent annually," he said. "Life-cycle costs when calculated will demonstrate a bright picture of the long-term savings that Judson will make as a result of making the building green."

The four-story building houses the university's school of art, design and architecture, as well as its central library. It also features additional classrooms, a gallery, large ancillary spaces and mechanical rooms.

Burnidge Cassell and Associates drew up the plans for the center based on the idea of British architect C. Alan Short. The Center was built by Shales McNutt Construction, also based in Elgin.