The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) has awarded the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design-New Construction platinum certification to the Upper Cumberland Regional Health Facility located in Cookeville.
Solar Control Glasses" />The Upper Cumberland Regional Health Facility in Cookeville, Tenn., features SOLARBAN(R) 70XL and Solarban 60 solar-control, low-emissivity glasses by PPG Industries. The facility recently became the first building in Tennessee to earn LEED(R)-NC certification at the platinum level.
This facility is the first Tennessee building to earn LEED-NC as a result of using PPG Industries’ low-emissivity Solarban 60 solar control and SOLARBAN 70XL glasses.
According to Brian Templeton, who is the architect of this facility and a principal with Upland Design Group, the Solarban 60 glasses were chosen for viewing the work spaces, entrance and other surface applications, and the Solarban 70XL was designed particularly for clear and daylighting panel applications of the structure.
The Solarban 70XL and Solarban 60 glasses are the highest-performing low-e solar control glasses in the industry. Both glasses have solar heat gain coefficient (SHGC) of 0.27 and 0.38, visible light transmittance (VLT) of 64% and 70% and light-to-solar gain (LSG) ratio of 2.37 and 1.85, respectively.
The 51,000 sq. ft. facility was mainly designed for offering a low-maintenance and good working atmosphere, and to reduce the use of potable water and energy.
In addition to daylighting, a geothermal heating, air conditioning system and ventilation, and photovoltaic solar panel arrays producing 2.5% of energy for the operation are the features of this facility. The combination of these three strategies decreases the utilization of energy by 43%. As this project includes bioswales and rain gardens, this facility surpasses the LEED conditions.
Upland Design Group of Tennessee and Nashville-based Thomas Miller and Partners jointly designed the Upper Cumberland Regional Health Facility.