Saratoga County's Clifton Park-Halfmoon Public Library Earns LEED Certification

The Clifton Park-Halfmoon Public Library, just to the northeast of Schenectady, recently earned formal LEED certification from USGBC. The 55,000-square-foot project was designed by architects Woodard Connor Gillies & Seleman of Albany and opened to the public back in December of 2006. NYSERDA served as a technical advisor on the project, which participated in the New York Energy $mart New Construction Program, and reviewed the proposed energy-saving features of the building proposed by the design team, which included high-efficiency windows, additional insulation, efficient lighting with occupancy control, efficient HVAC systems, and a digitally controlled building management system.

NYSERDA offered the project team financial incentives both for the additional costs of the energy savings features, as well as the LEED certification process itself. While there’s no data available on how the building has performed since it opened up, NYSERDA anticipated that the project would yield an annual energy savings of around 382,000 kWh and cost savings of $55,000.

Other green features included locally-sourced brick and recycled-content structural steel, carpet, and countertops. In 2007, the New York Library Association gave the project its “Outstanding New Library” award. It’s unclear what level of rating the project has earned; we’ll follow up with more details if we’re able to dig them up, including any confirmation of the energy savings projections referenced in the NYSERDA link below.

The Clifton Park-Halfmoon Public Library joins the Bronx Library Center, which formally earned LEED Silver certification from USGBC back in January of 2007; that project owns the distinction of being the first publicly-funded building in New York City to earn a LEED rating.

• “Green” Library in Clifton Park (Daily Gazette.com)
• Clifton Park-Halfmoon Public Library (NYSERDA)
• LEED Silver for Bronx Library Center (gbNYC)