MCAD Campus Plan, Minneapolis, MN, USA

The master plan for the Minneapolis College of Art and Design (MCAD) outlines a 10-year vision focusing on accessibility, sustainability, and innovation for its diverse and growing student population while aiming for carbon neutrality by 2040.
MCAD has identified the need to preserve their unique buildings but do deep energy retrofits and achieve energy independence from the Minnesota Art Institute from whom they have been purchasing carbon intensive steam for campus heating.
Transsolar contributed to shaping this vision by assisting in developing a step-by-step plan to achieve net-zero operational energy consumption at MCAD. Key strategies include optimizing existing spaces to improve comfort and usability, retrofitting existing building envelopes for energy efficiency, and transitioning to all-electric heating , and exploring campus wide thermal energy systems. While bringing energy demand on campus to a minimum, which includes implementation of passive heating and cooling strategies, PV and geothermal systems are proposed to supply energy to the campus to achieve operational carbon neutrality.