Georgia Gwinnett College Library, Lawrenceville, Ga., has earned an Innovation in Design credit from the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification programme, due in part to the use of Cradle To Cradle Certified (CM) PPG glass.
PPG Industries announced that Georgia Gwinnett College Library, Lawrenceville, Ga., has earned an Innovation in Design credit from the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification programme, due in part to the use of Cradle To Cradle Certified (CM) PPG glass.
The library, which was designed by Leo A. Daly, Atlanta, features a Kawneer 1600 Wall System® curtain wall fabricated with Solarban® 70XL Starphire® solar control, low-E glass by PPG. Project architect Todd Dolson said the curtain wall is part of an integrated sustainable design strategy that dictated the orientation and arrangement of the library, including the layout of its windows and shading devices.
“The design goals of the project required glass that was as transparent as possible, providing the highest visible light transmittance and greatest thermal performance to achieve the project’s sustainability objectives,” Dolson explained. The glazing component and orientation strategy, together with high-efficiency lighting, mechanical and insulation systems, enabled the library to realize a 32% reduction in energy use.
Solarban 70XL Starphire glass has visible light transmittance (VLT) of 64% and a solar heat gain coefficient (SHGC) of 0.27. The resulting 2.37 light-to-solar gain (LSG) ratio is among the highest in the industry.
Even though LEED criteria discount the value of products that are Cradle to Cradle Certified at the Silver tier, the glass and the curtain wall system still combined to exceed the minimum building materials cost threshold required to earn the LEED Innovation in Design credit.
Cradle To Cradle® Certification is awarded by MBDC (McDonough Braungart Design Chemistry), which independently evaluates the total impact of a product on human health and the environment throughout its life cycle. Considerations include sustainability of the product’s material ingredients and their ability to be reutilized, and how efficiently water and energy are used in the product’s manufacture. The product manufacturer also must demonstrate socially responsible corporate practices that encompass social fairness, ethical business standards and environmental stewardship.
PPG earned Cradle to Cradle Certification for all its architectural glass products in 2008, and it remains the only glass manufacturer in the world to have achieved this distinction.