KSS Architects Use Solar Energy to Preserve Rare Books

PRINCETON, NJ–Award-winning architectural design firm KSS Architects has completed a project that helps preserve both the environment and valuable books from Princeton University, Columbia University and the New York Public Library. The latest expansion of the Research and Collections Preservation Consortium (ReCAP), located on the Forrestal Campus of Princeton University, uses solar energy to help power the high-density, environmentally-controlled library storage facility.

The existing facility comprised a series of four 15,000-square-foot refrigerated modules that held 7.5 million library items. The latest expansion, completed in March, added a fifth module, which increased ReCAP’s total area to 85,000 square feet and total capacity to 10 million items.

To meet the technical and protection requirements of preservation, ReCAP must maintain a temperature of 55 degrees Fahrenheit and 35 percent relative humidity. KSS and their consultants designed each module with temperature and humidity monitoring systems and load-bearing, maximum foreseeable loss (MFL) walls to withstand extreme conditions such as fire.

The project includes several sustainable design features. The facility’s high cooling demand, which reaches peak loads on sunny days, made it an ideal candidate for a significant sustainable design feature: solar panels. Five thousand solar panels, capable of generating 370 kilowatt-hours, were installed on the roofs of both the new and existing modules.

KSS principal Scot Murdoch, AIA, who managed the project, said, “Clients such as ReCAP can help offset their energy usage and reduce the need for grid-supplied energy by using photovoltaics.”

A third party, First Solar and PPL Corporation, has been engaged to finance, install and manage the panels. First Solar and PPL then sells the energy to ReCAP at a reduced price. ReCAP is one of the first projects to take advantage of New Jersey Clean Energy Program’s Solar Renewable Energy Credit (SREC) Pilot Program, which is changing the way solar energy systems are funded by basing rebates on energy production. In return, users will have lower costs and faster payback times.

The ReCAP partners expect the facility will ultimately comprise 11 modules. KSS is currently designing the next phase of ReCAP, which is known as Module 8.