Five Reasons Why Schools Go Green

This is another great article about how the public has an impact on Green Building. This is from http://www.edcmag.com Enviornmental and Design Construction Magazine.

Five Reasons Why Schools Go Green by Katrina Shum Miller LEED AP March 3, 2008

K-12 schools are unique among building types. As facilities that house children, schools have an inherent responsibility for occupant health. Public schools must demonstrate sound fiscal management and benefit their communities, and these are goals that many private schools also willingly adopt. As centers of learning, schools also offer a prime opportunity to teach by example. Sustainable design and construction practices help achieve all these objectives. The decisions driving sustainable facilities may vary, but the following points highlight the five of the main reasons why schools are going green:
Performance
Pedagogy
Community
Responsibility
Operating Cost

Performance

An optimized learning environment that provides daylight, thermal comfort, good IAQ, and enhanced acoustics enhances student performance. Kristin Heinen, assistant director of the Collaborative for High Performance Schools (CHPS, Inc.) asserts that the biggest benefits of going green are the positive affects on students learning. Cesar E. Chavez Education Center in Oakland Calif., is a CHPS Demonstration School that showed the greatest academic performance index increase out of 150 schools in its district in one year.“The school reports a 20 percent increase in math performance at or above grade level,” Heinen says. “Sustainable practices are proven to improve student test scores and speed learning progress. In addition, they help create healthier learning environments that lower illness and absenteeism.”Building performance benefits too from efficient HVAC systems and durable, low-maintenance materials.

Pedagogy

Visible sustainable elements provide an interactive and experiential learning environment for kids. At Rosa Parks School in Portland, Ore. a monitoring system offers students real-time data on the building’s solar panel energy generation and bioswales teach kids about on-site stormwater treatment.When Kersey Creek Elementary School in Hanover County, Va. was built in 2006, Moseley Architects worked with the faculty to write curriculum about project strategies that promote environmental responsibility.“By using the school as a teaching tool, it makes these concepts come alive for the students,” says Bryna Dunn, director of environmental planning and research at Moseley Architects.

Community

Anja S. Caldwell, Architect, LEED green building program manager at Montgomery County Public Schools in Maryland views her role as an advocate of parents’ interest. As knowledge of the health and environmental benefits of green buildings are becoming commonplace, the communities are increasingly requesting that schools adopt sustainable practices. At the opening of Great Seneca Creek Elementary, Caldwell says that the school’s assistant principal said the building made her proud of her tax dollars.In fact Caldwell says that in her county, students often approach officials with an environmental agenda. Caldwell got fifth graders at Great Seneca Creek involved in spreading the message to the community by creating a virtual tour of their building.“The tour was so popular, we’re taking the students and their presentation on the road to help educate the greater community about sustainability,” says Caldwell.

Responsibility

Our society is facing issues of climate change, energy crises, water shortages, and environmental pollution. Schools want to be a part of the solution to these challenges and demonstrate their commitment to environmental stewardship. Punahou School is a private school in Honolulu that not only builds sustainable facilities, but also finds innovative ways to operate responsibly. For example, cooking oil used at a recent carnival was recycled and converted into biodiesel fuel.“Our school is on an island that relies on imports for almost a 100 percent of our needs, so we see the importance of maximizing our resources,” explains Randy Overton, assistant director of facilities at Punahou.At the public Sherwood School District in Oregon, Superintendent Dan Jamison believes that schools have a moral obligation to be great stewards of the environment.“By providing good sustainable models with our schools, we educate a generation that will deliver even more profoundly efficient and environmentally friendly structures for generations to come,” he says.

Operating Cost

Energy efficiency can generate tremendous savings in operating costs. For example, California schools currently spend nearly $700 million on energy, but the average district-wide savings from participants in the CHPS program is 30 percent.Reduced operating costs also can open the door to incorporating other sustainable measures. The Ohio State Schools Facilities Commission (OSFC) is in the process of helping to replace or repair all K-12 schools in the state. Last September, the Commission mandated that, moving forward, all schools will meet a minimum LEED for Schools rating of silver certification and should target gold. At least 250 buildings will meet these requirements over the next two years.“One convincing factor for the state’s chief financial officer was that buildings constructed to LEED silver standards will generate a $1.4 billion return on investment over 40 years,” says Franklin Brown, AIA, LEED AP, OSFC planning director.Money saved on operating costs can pay back initial costs incurred for green features within a few years and, with the rising costs of energy and water, the savings become even more valuable.