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Green school buildings making a surge
Environmentally friendly schools can reduce energy costs ... and improve learning
School systems nationwide are beginning to realize the benefits of "going green" when building new schools, according to experts who follow school construction trends. Though the initial building costs can run higher, schools are seeing a return on their up-front investment through a reduction in monthly energy costs. Another important (and often unexpected) side benefit has been a boost in student achievement resulting from more healthy, productive, and comfortable learning environments.
John Weekes, an architect who is a member of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Committee on Architecture for Education, says "green," or environmentally friendly, school buildings aren’t just a West Coast concept anymore.
"Of course, places like California have been thinking green for a while, but it’s really all over now–the Pacific Northwest, the upper Midwest, and the Northeast," he said. "Recently, it’s also been [occurring in] the Southeast. It’s certainly [a] mainstream [concept], but not entirely even across the board. Every region has its own rate."
There are many levels of "green," and each green building can vary in its degree of energy efficiency. The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) has its own set of measurements, called the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification, which measures design, construction, and operation of green buildings. To date, the LEED certificate-available in bronze, silver, and gold-has been given to 55 schools around the country. However, another 370 reportedly were waiting for certification as of press time.
LEED also has a special certification for green schools, which takes into account joint-use agreements that allow other groups to use the facility and also has stricter requirements for features such as minimum acoustic standards.
According to Deane Evans, a research professor and executive director of the Center for Architecture and Building Science Research at the New Jersey Institute of Technology, a high-performance green school has "healthy, productive, and comfortable environments for students and teachers that provide high levels of acoustic, thermal, and visual comfort."
Features of green schools include windows and skylights that admit generous amounts of daylight; buildings that are safe, secure, and cost-effective to own and operate, because they use durable products and systems; materials that are chosen using life-cycle cost analysis, rather than the cheapest first cost; and availability to non-students during hours when the school is not in operation. (Community participation during design also is encouraged.)
Already, many states and school systems are using LEED guidelines to structure future school design. For example, in September the Ohio School Facility Fund passed a requirement that all new schools and major renovations in the state be certified LEED Silver, using $4.1 billion in state money to help cover the costs. The plan will create at least 250 more green schools in Ohio in the next two years.
In California, 23 school districts, including San Francisco and San Diego, have pledged to meet criteria for the Collaborative for High Performance Schools (CHPS), a system similar to LEED. Connecticut, New York, Massachusetts, Vermont, Rhode Island, Maine, Washington, and New Hampshire also are using measurement processes based on CHPS building standards.
Pennsylvania even provides up to $500,000 in state funding to school districts for each new building that is LEED certified.
Green school examples
Dave Burns, design principal for Burns Wald-Hopkins Architects, says geographical differences "are the foundation" for effective green-school construction.
"Desert climate requires different building design responses than mountain or seacoast environments," Burns says. He mentions insulation, heating and cooling, sun shading, and storm-water management as a few of the geographical variables that come into play when designing a green building.
"One of the main principles of green-building design is to harmonize with the environment," Burns explains.
A good example of this harmony is Erie Community Unit School District No. 1 in Erie, Illinois, which is known for flat terrain conducive to strong winds. This district uses a 1.2-megawatt single wind turbine and tubular wind tower from Johnson Controls Inc. to provide energy to its elementary, middle, and high schools and to a high school annex facility.
"We like to say we’re casting our future to the wind," says Superintendent Mike Ryan. "We’re looking forward to this being a staple for providing energy to our district for the next 25 to 30 years."
The turbine, which cost $3.5 million, is expected to decrease the school district’s consumption of purchased electrical energy by 87 percent, resulting in about $5.5 million in total energy savings over 30 years. The district also anticipates another $3 million or more in net revenue over the life cycle of the unit by selling any excess energy to local energy providers for placement on the Commonwealth Edison distribution grid.
Erie managed to fund the turbine in part by conducting a feasibility study and then receiving a clean-energy grant award totaling $720,000 from the Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation.
"The Erie wind turbine is one of six community-based wind power projects supported by the Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation in the last two years–and the largest being pursued by a public school district," says Ed Miller, program director of the Illinois Clean Energy Community Foundation.
The Tucson Unified School District’s LEED-certified Davidson Elementary School, designed by Burns, is in arid Arizona and therefore had other design considerations.
All the classrooms open to the exterior and have extensive clerestories (high windows) to bring daylight into the rooms. There is minimal glazing on the south and west sides to help keep out the hot sun, and the roof windows all face north to allow light to enter the rooms, proving adequate natural daylight throughout the day and minimizing the need for artificial light.
The rooftop air conditioning units are energy efficient. They have an energy-recovery unit that captures warm air circulating in the system during winter to pre-warm cold air from the exterior, and they capture cooler air in the summer to pre-cool exterior warm air, lessening the work the units have to do.
These features save about 25 percent of the typical annual energy costs for a similarly sized building.
Other green characteristics include durable and non-toxic interior materials, many of which are manufactured from recycled materials, and the use of benign disinfectant cleaning products.
Great Seneca Creek Elementary School, part of the Montgomery County Public Schools in Maryland, has been certified LEED Gold. Montgomery County has passed legislation requiring all newly constructed public buildings to get LEED certification.
"[We] began considering LEED approval four to five years before construction," says Gregory S. Edmundson, the school’s principal. Of course, the "board … had to approve it, and we needed some extra funding as well," says Edmundson.
Great Seneca Creek relies on a geothermal heating and cooling system that works with the earth’s natural constant core temperature of about 58 degrees Fahrenheit. The school has 120 different types of piping that go 520 feet below the surface of its athletic fields.
In winter, a water solution circulating though the series of looping pipes carries the earth’s warmth to a heat pump inside the building. This heat concentrates the earth’s thermal energy and transfers it to air that circulates through interior ductwork to fill the building.
In summer, heat is extracted from air inside the building and transferred to the earth through the same pipe system. The geothermal system also uses some of the heat extracted from the interior of the building in summer to provide free hot water.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has shown that geothermal systems can operate at 75 percent greater efficiency than oil furnaces, 48 percent great efficiency than gas furnaces, and 40 percent more efficiently than air-source heat pumps.
With the National Energy Assistance Directors Association predicting the average retail price of heating oil will be $3.10 per gallon this winter, the geothermal heating and cooling system could prove to be a wise investment.
Other green characteristics of the school include dual-flush toilets that save 43 percent more water than typical toilets, by allowing students to choose a low-water option if they excrete only urine. The bathroom stall dividers are also made from recycled plastic.
The building’s planners incorporated no-mow meadows and overlapping fields to minimize its environmental impact.
"We also considered lighting. The building has natural lighting, because the classes are faced to the east for daylight, while the evening athletics activities in the gym are on the west," says Edmundson.
AIA’s Weekes says the design considerations for each school are unique, but there are many green-design trends that schools across the country are using as well.
For example, several schools are incorporating natural day lighting and natural ventilation. In the future, Weekes predicts, schools will invest in storm-water systems and the reuse of waste.
Another trend is applying green-design principles not just indoors, but outdoors as well.
The San Francisco School recruited California landscaper Jeff Miller to create a green playground that extends the classroom outdoors.
The sustainable schoolyard design includes a 25-foot long "creek" created from discarded paving stones, fencing crafted using recycled wood from old chicken coops, and climbing trees with blue stripes that mean "go no higher." One part of the playground has a water pump set in dirt, so that students–mainly preschoolers–can play in mud. Of course, they must first wear a pair of rubber boots provided by the school.
Such creative play "goes hand-in-hand with subjects [such as] life and earth sciences, social studies, math, art, ecoliteracy, and nutrition," Miller says.
Benefits: Expected … and unforeseen
"Sometimes it’s not good to be the first to do something. Everybody’s skeptical–even I was," says Erie’s Ryan. "It’s hard to convince people sometimes. It takes a lot of work."
Weekes agrees. "The biggest obstacle you’ll face is the perception that this is all a fad that costs too much," he says. "What people need to understand is that if it’s well thought out, it shouldn’t cost a lot. While every state has some rules and regulations that could impede LEED certification, such as the number of windows a school can have, et cetera, state funding can also help with LEED design."
Budget constraints and stakeholder skepticism can pose challenges, but the benefits of going green are numerous, supporters say.
For example, although initial costs might seem expensive, green schools are less expensive to run and generally last longer. The National Energy Assistance Directors Association has predicted facilities across the U.S. will pay an average of 10.5 percent more to heat their buildings this winter, because the average retail price of heating oil has risen sharply in the last year.
Environmentally, according to Build Green Schools, green design fosters learning through open spaces and natural lighting, decreases student and teacher absenteeism from respiratory and other illnesses, reduces energy and water bills, and provides models for teaching the world’s future leaders about sustainability to benefit communities for generations to come.
Because of the decline in absenteeism, "students test scores increase and learning is improved," says Weekes.
According to a recent AIA report, five separate studies found an average asthma reduction of 38.5 percent in buildings with improved air quality. Improved air, comfort, and health in green school buildings also benefit teachers–they reportedly experience 1.41 fewer missed working days, which is 12 percent fewer than in traditional schools.
On average, green schools use 33 percent less energy and 32 percent less water than conventional schools. This means going green could help the United States become less dependent on foreign energy sources.
"The biggest plus is that [green design] teaches social responsibility," says Edmundson. "By setting the example, these students become lifelong learners. They have social awareness. When I think about a five-year-old making decisions about waste efficiency, I know this is all worth it."
Great Seneca Creek Elementary has a "green team" through which older students teach incoming students about their school’s design and how it works to help the environment. "It’s an ongoing process fostering continuous learning," says Edmundson.
"There’s a whole new generation of kids who can appreciate the environment. They’re going to be more compatible with our environment, and green schools are helping to do that," says Weekes.
Adds Ryan: "For us, the most unexpected benefit was the learning that green design provides. With PowerPoint presentations and in-class monitoring of our turbine’s operations, students can see how it is impacting their future. Not only do the teachers embrace this learning, but I take our students on walks to touch and feel the turbine–to give them an understanding of wind energy."
According to recent results from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), 53 percent of students worldwide are familiar with ecoliteracy and have a knowledge of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, while 54 percent are familiar with issues surrounding pollution and acid rain. Analysis of the test results suggests that an awareness of environmental issues is closely linked with students’ overall science performance.
Green building design is important, Burns says, because "the necessary transformation of the building industry from current practices to more environmentally sustainable construction begins with education–the earlier the better. Elementary children, especially, understand and embrace the concept. They not only adopt these environmental conservation values, but take them home to their parents."
Tips and resources
For school systems that want to go green but are concerned about the costs, Weekes recommends "thinking sustainable." While the initial cost might seem high, he says, the return on investment is far higher.
If you don’t have the funding to undertake a total green redesign, there are some simple steps you can take to make your schools more energy efficient. For example, Michigan’s Grandville Public Schools offers this advice:
- Change lights to a more energy-efficient style.
- Use motion sensors to make sure lights stay off when the room is unoccupied.
- Inspect and calibrate thermostats each year.
- Remove chiller units from drinking fountains.
- Shut down nonessential coolers and freezers.
- Insulate all piping.
- Make preventative maintenance a priority in the off-season.
- Close curtains and blinds at the end of the school day.
- Periodically ask utility companies to do an analysis of the school building rates and usage.
- Closely monitor utility bills for overcharges, estimates, and sales tax.
- Enable complete power-down functions on computers.
A good resource for school leaders considering going green is Build Green Schools, a new web site created by the U.S. Green Building Council.
The site has facts on the benefits and costs of green schools; profiles of schools that have already gone green; examples of policies that governments and school districts have implemented to ensure future schools go green; a list of resources and links; and a social networking site for visitors to share their experiences, best practices, and creative ideas.
Links:
TUSD Davidson Elementary School
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