In September 2015, President Philip Hanlon '77 appointed a task force to study the possibility of creating an institute focused on the challenges posed by energy.
Arthur L. Irving, along with his wife, Sandra Irving, and their daughter, Sarah Irving '10, Tuck '14, generously agreed to support Dartmouth's efforts to take on the broader energy and society challenge, resulting in the creation of the Arthur L. Irving Institute for Energy and Society.
As visitors explore the facility, many of the systems that make the building so efficient won't be visible, but here are some of the energy and sustainability features that are designed to ensure it is the highest-performing building on campus:
Construction of the four-story building began in October 2019, and opened to the public in late March 2022. The highly energy efficient 55,000-square-foot facility contains teaching and learning spaces, faculty and research offices, demonstration labs, meeting and collaboration spaces, a cafe, and other spaces designed to foster informal interaction among faculty, researchers, and students.
Heating and Cooling: Water has 1,000 times the capacity to heat or cool compared to air so it is used throughout the building to keep occupants comfortable. Beneath the granite of the Atrium floor, a radiant flooring system pumps water through a series of tubes, providing a highly efficient means of regulating room temperature by circulating warm water to heat and cold water to cool the space.
Super-Efficient Operable Windows: A cornerstone to the building's ability to minimize the need for artificial lighting, cooling, and heating are its windows. Each of the office windows has triple pane glass which means you can sit by them in the winter and feel comfortable since there are no drafts and no feeling of cold radiating towards you. Many of the windows can be opened by the building's energy management system to enhance natural ventilation and bring in cool dry air when appropriate.
Heat Recovery Technology: All buildings must bring in fresh air to maintain a healthy environment for their occupants. In the Institute building, stale, warm air passes through a heat exchanger that warms up the colder fresh air from outside. Doing so can recover a large fraction of the energy that would normally be lost if the air from inside were directly vented to the outside. Similarly in the summer, the cool stale indoor air exchanges its cold with warm, moist air making the incoming air cooler and dryer.
Rooftop Solar Panels: In the next phase of the project, photovoltaic panels will be installed on the building's roof to help power the building residents' work and reduce the building's overall carbon footprint. Roughly 90 kilowatts of solar panels will generate enough electricity to provide a large fraction of the building's power needs and will do so for the next 25 years.