Within a generation, all students will attend a green school, where there’s daylight streaming in, views, high indoor air quality, thermal comfort, mold prevention and excellent acoustics. The money saved from increased energy efficiency in schools will fund additional teachers, computers or books. Educators won’t want to leave for another school or profession.
Think it sounds great? The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and more than 70 trained Green Schools Advocates and their teams around the country think so.
USGBC has started a grassroots movement with the vision that every child will attend a green school within a generation. The nonprofit organization is dedicated to expanding sustainable building practices and has more than 70 regional chapters across the country.
Most regional chapters of USGBC have local Green Schools Advocates who work with parents, PTA members, teachers, principals and anyone interested in green schools.
According to Rachel Gutter, Schools Sector Manager at USGBC, “There’s an advocacy team near you. We have virtually every region covered, and if not, they are in development.” Gutter added, “It’s all about starting small at the grassroots level and building up a really powerful campaign. We’re seeing that happen all over the country. It’s incredible, the kinds of things these advocacy teams are doing.”
Defining a Green School
Gutter said a green school “creates a healthy environment that is conducive to learning while saving energy, resources and money, ” She noted the best green schools find ways to integrate sustainability into their curricula, using the school as an interactive hands-on teaching tool.
Annette Stelmack, Green Schools Advocate for Colorado and co-author of Sustainable Residential Interiors, said green schools “make use of as much natural daylight as possible, maximizing students’ ability to concentrate and stay physically and emotionally healthy while dramatically reducing energy costs and greenhouse emissions.”
The Heschong Mahone study, “Daylighting in Schools,” found a positive correlation between daylighting, from windows or skylights, and better test scores, including a 26 percent faster progression in reading.
Paula Vaughan, Atlanta, Ga Green Schools Advocate and Co-director of Sustainable Design Initiative at Perkins + Will in Atlanta, said that as an architect and Green Schools Advocate, she encourages green cleaning in addition to green building. “It doesn’t make sense to build a healthy green building and use toxic materials to clean it,” Vaughan added.
Part of defining a green school includes discussing budget. While there is a widespread misconception that going green might be expensive, studies show green is affordable. A 2006 study, “Greening America’s Schools” by Gregory Kats, found green schools cost less than 2 percent more versus conventional schools, but provide financial benefits twenty times as large. The study also found that green schools use an average of 33 percent less energy than conventional schools.
According to Vaughan, “There are some very simple things that you can do that have a profound impact.” She asked, “So, if we can design better, if it doesn’t cost more, why wouldn’t you want a green school?”
LEED for Schools Green Rating System
USGBC’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Rating System is the recognized benchmark for green buildings. LEED has been used for years to rate green buildings, and now LEED for Schools recognizes the uniqueness of K-12 school design and construction and pays an increased amount of attention to good indoor air quality and acoustics. LEED is a vehicle for green schools and provides a third-party rating system.
A recent study, “The Cost of Green Revisited” by Davis Langdon, found many projects achieving LEED certification within their budgets and within the same cost range as non-LEED projects. Any additional costs to meet LEED certification are usually paid back within a few years by energy savings alone.
LEED for Schools has only been available since April 2007, but more than 118 projects have registered for certification under the new program. Previously, schools pursuing LEED certification registered under other LEED Green Building Rating Systems, like LEED for New Construction, which can be adapted for schools. More than 70 schools have already been LEED certified under other LEED rating systems and more than 400 more are registered for certification.
Getting Involved
Everyone, including parents, teachers, PTA members, principals or concerned citizens, is a stakeholder in schools and can help make green schools a reality. Gutter explained, “It takes just one green champion to get a green school built. Those champions come from all different places in the process.” A green school can have its beginning from a simple suggestion of a parent or principal.
“The best time [to get involved] is always right now, or maybe yesterday,” said Gutter. She added the earlier green elements are instituted within a project, the more successful the project will be and the less money will be spent, even up to zero extra dollars to make the project green.
Kelly Meyer, parent and PTA president of a public school in Malibu, Calif., said there are many simple things able to be done to green an existing school, from using recycled paper to e-mailing school newsletters (instead of printing them). One project instituted at her children’s school is helping to create trash-free lunches by giving each student a lunch box equipped with a cloth napkin and reusable containers. Parents at her school also helped to abolish the school’s use of Styrofoam lunch trays, which were replaced with recyclable corn-based trays.
Meyer also believes in sustainable fundraising. For example, her school sold reusable shopping bags to parents and used those funds to make an educational film about watershed and the impact of pollution on the Pacific Ocean.
Meyer is working with others to help her children’s school obtain LEED certification in the future. She also looks forward to the coming addition of wind and solar power at the school. She encourages, “Go green. It’s really rewarding. It’s really beneficial, and the kids soak it up. And it’s our future. We don’t have a choice.”
Green School Steps to Take:
- Read the studies and get more facts at buildgreenschools.org.
- Raise concerns about greening your child’s school at PTA meetings.
- Contact your local Green Schools Advocate at buildgreenschools.org to become part of your local advocacy team.
- Take the Pledge, located at buildgreenschools.org. The Pledge includes 18 things you can do on your own schedule.
- Tell your school about green-school assistance that may be available through the William J. Clinton Climate Initiative.