Case Study: Rockford Public School District 205 achieves holistic school performance insights with IES Virtual Environment from Integrated Environmental Solutions

Rockford Public School District 205 improves 45 schools with Integrated Environmental Solutions

Rockford Public School District 205, the third largest school district in Illinois, faced the challenge of validating a masterplan for its 45 aging schools. They needed to decide whether to build new facilities or renovate existing ones, moving beyond simple energy metrics to holistically evaluate each building's performance and the quality of its learning environment. Integrated Environmental Solutions provided its IES Virtual Environment (IESVE) tools to help their partner, DLR Group, undertake this assessment.

Using IESVE, DLR Group developed a holistic grading strategy that measured Energy Use Intensity, Thermal Comfort, Indoor Air Quality, Visual Comfort, and Acoustical Comfort. Integrated Environmental Solutions' technology was crucial for collecting this data and then presenting the complex results in a simple, visually compelling way to school board members and parents. This approach proved that a building with a good EUI could have poor environmental quality, leading to better-informed decisions for the district's $250 million in planned improvements.

Rockford Public School District 205