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Schools Represent a Growing Market for Sustainable Design
According to the 11th Annual School Construction Report published
by School Planning & Management, the cost of building, expanding and
renovating U.S. schools exceeded $20 billion for the first time in 2000 and has
remained at similar levels ever since.
Sustainable schools offer the same advantages as any high
performance structure. In addition to environmental benefits such as resource
efficiency, lower greenhouse gas emissions and reduced waste, they’re
less expensive to operate. According to the California Energy Commission,
schools spend an average of $126 per student per year on energy—but this
figure could be reduced by up to $50 with aggressive high performance designs.
Similarly, the U.S. EPA suggests that schools could reduce their overall
utility bills by up to 40% by incorporating sustainable design features.
That said, one of the most compelling reasons to build sustainable
schools is student health. Across the country, 53 million elementary and
secondary students attend close to 120,000 schools—many of which are old
and may pose health risks, especially to children, who tend to be more
susceptible to indoor pollutants than adults.
Sustainable schools, on the other hand,
result in fewer days off due to illness—which has economic implications
since most operating budgets are tied to average daily attendance—and
reduced liability exposure. Schools with environmental issues
often face remediation and legal expenses in the hundreds
of thousands of dollars. According to the EPA, healthier
schools also help to attract and keep good teachers, and
there’s a growing body of research demonstrating the
positive impact of features such as daylighting and indoor
air quality on student performance.
Other notable characteristics of high performance schools include
thermal, visual and acoustic comfort, and reduced maintenance. They’ve
also undergone a formal commissioning process to make sure that all of the
building systems work as they’re intended.
For more information, the
EPA Web site offers design tools and detailed information on subjects
related to sustainable schools, such as controlling sources of pollutants, HVAC
systems, moisture control, construction, commissioning, maintenance, portable
classrooms, and existing school renovation.
Green Dorm Project Wins GBI Award
for Most Innovative
Sustainable Commercial
Design
The green dorm proposal was developed by faculty, students and
invited professionals from Stanford University, who presented a shared vision
of the project as an “evolving, influential, flexible and
desirable” living and learning facility.
“We received a lot of amazing proposals, but found that the
green dorm was most in line with the GBI’s goals to promote credible and
practical green building methods,” said Vicki Worden, who oversees GBI
Commercial Programs and helped to judge the event. “We were most
impressed by the commitment of the proposal team to utilize the integrated
design process, which we think is critical to developing energy-efficient,
healthy and environmentally friendly buildings.”
Other judges included Jiri Skopek, GBI technical advisor, AA Dip.,
OAA, and Harvey Bryan, Ph.D., professor of building sciences at Arizona State
University and a member of the GBI board of directors.
The award was part of the EPA’s National
Sustainable Design Expo, an event that showcases projects focused
on green building, alternative fuel technologies and other
environmentally progressive ideas. For their efforts, the team
from Stanford received $1,000 from the GBI to further its work. |
