Twenty percent of the population of the U.S. spends their day in a school. Many schools are not healthy environments. Those charged with providing a healthy learning climate for students can and should make changes to foster student health. In the search for providing a better learning experience for students what tools do administrators need to ensure the learning environment is the best possible for students and staff? The case can also be made that, as public schools are funded by taxpayers, school administrators should be good stewards of public monies by building in a way that reduces the environmental impact of schools. This, in turn, saves taxpayer money when the use of water and utilities are reduced.
Sustainable or green building rating systems have been developed in order to assist schools to determine “what exactly is green?”, “how green?”, and “what exactly is it I need to do to provide a healthy environment?”
Three rating systems that are used most frequently to help in providing healthy schools are LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), CHPS (Collaborative for High Performance Schools) and Green Globes.
LEED was originally developed in 2000 by the US Green Building Council. It is used in the United States and other countries, with a version specifically for schools. LEED for Schools was updated in 2009 to include both new and existing school projects.
CHPS was founded in 1999. There have been 86 CHPS schools completed nation-wide. CHPS has developed state-specific school building performance criteria for twelve states, with more underway.
Green Globes rating system was developed in 2000 under the name Green Globes for Existing Buildings. It was updated in 2002 and the rating system is applicable to all types of commercial construction, including schools.
Each of these rating systems looks at building design and construction from a holistic standpoint. Each is voluntary and third-party verified.
Next week we'll look at the specifics of rating systems.
What LEED is http://www.usgbc.org/DisplayPage.aspx?CMSPageID=1988
CHPS Fact Sheet http://www.chps.net/dev/Drupal/node/164
Green Globes http://www.greenglobes.com/about.asp
A rating system for facilities will fall right in line with all the analytical data that is so vital to every other component in education. Facilities play an important role as IT does matter what the environment is where we learn. Classrooms and school building have become outdated need to keep pace with the educational process. S. Brennan, Manhattan College
ReplyDeleteI have known about these rating, but have not done much investigation into how they are utilized in relation to schools. I do agree that administrators need to look into green building in consideration of taxpayers monies and student investment. The impact that green building can have on students is yet to be determined beyond health benefits, but I would imagine that the lack of chemicals could detract from said causes of many educational impairments.
ReplyDeleteI feel that rating systems such as these should indeed be in place so that any school building or project that is advertised as Green/Sustainable to local taxpayers can be scored against these standards. This way the building project can be held accountable to some extent and administrators can have an idea of how sustainable a project can be from the get go potentially.
ReplyDeleteM Nelson (TSU)
I have always wondered what the percentage had to be for a building to claim "green" status. I guess I shouldn't be shocked that it is only 35%, but then again, I don't really have enough knowledge on the subject to determine if that is truly too small or not yet.
ReplyDeleteMistie Dakroub (TSU)
I managed to post a comment on this article that was actually intended for the following article:
ReplyDeleteGreen Building Rating Systems Comparison – Green Globes...
That is what I get for trying to be clever and type my comments in word and then paste then over into the blog :(
Mistie Dakroub (TSU)
Money drives how a building is going to be build. Fewer schools are being build out of brick and blocks like the old days. Those bilding last forever, but the up front cost to build looks too big. In the long run by the time you replace sheet rock walls and other cheep materials, one could spend more over the long haul.
ReplyDeleteCGibbs(TSU)
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
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