Teaching the importance of conserving energy
The best place to teach children about sustainability is in school.  Including sustainable practices in the curriculum will allow students to practice what is being taught, eight hours a day.  Turning off lights when possible, keeping doors closed and recycling materials are great habits for students to learn at school and hopefully take home to share with others in the family.

by Lisa Gelfand with Eric Corey Freed

The students of today are responsible for our future. With that in mind, we owe it to them to provide schools that are healthy, intellectually stimulating, and energy efficient. Sustainable School Architecture by Lisa Gelfand, with Eric Corey Freed, provides a handbook for planners, architects, and designers to create and maintain these spaces. Schools are an important part of student’s lives, and act as places of learning and community hubs.

By examining the differences between LEED for Schools and LEED NC, we can learn how sustainability impacts teaching and learning.

As architects and engineers, we are trained to create environments that meet the specific needs of their individual users. Office buildings, recreation centers, and schools each take on different forms based on their surroundings, intended purpose, and role in our lives.

Our approach to sustainability and sustainable strategies is no different. The various LEED rating systems adopted by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) recognize critical differences in the needs and challenges presented by various building types. Foremost among these are schools.

If you have been wondering what a “green school” or a “sustainable school” REALLY is, you are not alone. And if you think you do know, it’s likely that the next person you discuss the topic with will have a different understanding. While these terms are used often, there is not a common understanding as to what they mean.  We’ll explore some of these uses and introduce you to a comprehensive vision of school sustainability that has been developed in Oregon.

Green roofs are increasingly being featured on many education institutions, from elementary schools to universities. Aside from providing benefits for the building structure, such as reducing heating and cooling costs and extending the life expectancy of waterproof membranes, green roofs may also provide learning opportunities in spaces that are welcoming and secure. This is especially true in dense urban areas where green space is relatively sparse. For example, a green roof that is home to numerous plant species, insects and birds is an ideal location to learn about ecology. It is also a place where agriculture can be taught in an urban setting, as people are often far removed from places where food is grown. Even being able to see an inaccessible green roof through windows has a positive effect on the learning environment.

Third graders in Newark are learning how to enjoy salsa. They aren’t just dipping their chips in it, but are finding out how to grow all of the ingredients in a recipe that takes months to prepare, but minutes to enjoy. Over the course of a school year each student plays an active role in managing a rooftop garden where their salsa is grown. They learn about the science of plants, some of the history of salsa and other ethnic foods and the nutritional aspects of their recipe. These third graders also learn about their place in the world, where their food really comes from and how they have some personal responsibility for it. The sweat equity each child puts into the preparation of the soil and caring for the seed pays off in a sweet meal grown and prepared by their own hands in the heart of the brick city.

Linkages between school facility condition and learning have long been used to justify investments in new green construction programs, but the implications of these conclusions for students in existing school building stock is just as important. The outlook for America’s aging building stock is not optimistic. The American Society of Civil Engineers in 2005 rated America’s schools facilities a paltry “D” in its Report Card for America’s Infrastructure[1]. In late 2009, a coalition of school, health and science organizations released “Sick Schools”, a report that offers “compelling evidence of how polluted air inside and outside schools escalate health care costs, increase absenteeism, and reduce test scores.”[2]

“If we want children to flourish, to become truly empowered, then let us allow them to love the earth before we ask them to save it.” - David Sobel, Beyond Ecophobia

Community Unit School District 200 (CUSD 200), located in the suburbs of Chicago, is nothing less than a shining example of the district’s mission.  CUSD 200’s mission is to inspire, educate, challenge, and support all students to reach their highest level of learning and personal development.  The district’s new Hubble Middle School does just that and more.

Low-flow plumbing fixtures, passive solar design and stormwater management are increasingly frequent terms within the higher education world as universities and colleges steadily build and renovate their way toward sustainable design. Schools are unveiling high-performance laboratories with features like variable air volume fume hoods and occupancy sensors. Residence halls are receiving renovations like individual temperature controls and drought-resistant landscaping. Many campuses are installing green roofs that help to insulate buildings, reducing heating and cooling costs.

More and more, school districts are requesting that their classrooms be designed to greener standards. As a result, the modular construction industry is taking notice and using green materials, energy efficient designs, and HVAC units to accommodate the growing demand for environmentally friendly schools.