School Bus and Auto Idling at School

If you’re at a school either before or after school, a familiar sight is that of lines of school buses and private autos lined up outside dropping off or picking up students. In Cincinnati, Ohio, the University of Cincinnati does a lot of research on environmental health. In Cincinnati, about 1 in 4 school-age children suffer from asthma. (We have a similar rate of asthma here in North Texas, which is high and continues to climb). The University of Cincinnati has a research project underway in conjunction with the Cincinnati Health Department and Cincinnati Public schools to help reduce asthma in the community. This research project’s goal is determine how idling school buses and proximity to busy roadways affects the incidence of asthma in school-age children. This is being studied in order to provide information to policy makers and public health officials regarding the extent of pollutants from idling school buses in order to guide policy decisions. (Research shows asthma is triggered by proximity to particulates from diesel emissions. The incidence of asthma attacks rise when school buses idle at schools, and also when schools are near major roadways.)
The research will occur in two stages. During the first stages, students with asthma will have the air sampled both at their school and home neighborhood. Both indoor and outdoor sampling will be done, and the school sampling will include areas near entrances, and in classrooms. In the second stage of the study, an anti-idling campaign will take place, with air sampling at that time. The children will have medical information taken at both stages. There is also an education component that will be at work in order to educate teachers, school nurses, bus drivers, and school administration about how to reduce the health hazards of bus and auto idling.
In green building, we talk about how air pollution is detrimental to the success of students. Air inside a school is never as good (clean) as air outside a school. So if outside air is polluted how will schools be able to provide a healthy indoor environment?
In another way of creating a solution for the problem of school bus idling, LEED for Schools provides a point for bike racks and for building where there are bike routes to school which avoid busy streets.
Also at work on the subject of school bus idling and Outdoor Air Quality (OAQ) is the American Lung Association (ALA). In North Texas, ALA has been lobbying the state legislature to pass a school bus anti-idling law. ALA is also working to educate teachers and administrators on how to limit outdoor time for students on bad OAQ (Outdoor Air Quality) days.
If you want to help the students at your school reduce absenteeism from asthma and other respiratory problems, try instigating a District-wide Indoor and Outdoor Air Quality program. Also contact your state and federal legislators to impress upon them the importance of supporting these measures.
http://healthnews.uc.edu
www.ala.org
www.usgbc.org

Daylight Harvesting

One of the intriguing and interesting ways to build sustainably is to use the practice of daylight harvesting or “daylighting” to light a building. As long as there have been windows, daylight has been used to light buildings, but in the era of (relatively inexpensive) electricity, good design practices went out the window, so to speak, and little attention was paid to this aspect of building design. Window placement was then determined based on what the designer was trying to do with the building’s façade, and in many cases, particularly in the 1980’s, it was fashionable to design buildings (particularly schools) without windows as it was considered to be “too distracting” to have windows. LEED has a credit for daylighting – IEQ credit 8.1.
Knowing what we know about human health, hormone production, circadian rhythms, and the various colors and intensities of daylight at different times of the year, one can assume that daylighting is important in human health, therefore in student learning.
Studies show some interesting benefits associated with the use of daylighting. Studies show students in daylit schools experience 3.2 to 3.8 fewer absent days. Studies also show students achieving higher test scores. Fewer dental caries and increased student growth are another correlation between daylighting and student health. In addition, students in daylit schools show better attention spans and better work habits. Schools also report teachers having fewer sick days when teaching in daylit schools. These are a few of the more well-known studies available on this high-performance building strategy.
Daylit buildings also offer substantial cost savings by reducing energy use. Since electrical lighting heats buildings, when lights are turned off cooling loads go down. Since commercial buildings use more cooling, on average, in the course of a year than heating (due in part to lighting, computer and human heat generation), turning off the lights realizes an immediate benefit for both lighting and mechanical systems. A second benefit is that of reduced electrical lighting, which will decrease utility bills. A third benefit of daylighting occurs when the use of HVAC is reduced; then HVAC noise is reduced. (Noise is a big issue in schools and is associated with difficulty in student learning.)
There is no one single successful strategy in the use of daylighting to achieve LEED credit 8.1. Windows should be strategically placed to provide light but not glare. Light should be bounced into areas further away from windows by the use of light shelves and/or reflective surfaces. Other methods are to use clerestory windows or skylights (skylights should be used with caution in areas prone to severe hailstorms). The use of sunshades will reduce glare while providing natural daylight. Interior lighting controls need to be used in order to maximize daylight harvesting. Use building modeling (LEED prerequisite) to determine an overall strategy for successful daylight harvesting. The use of daylight harvesting will create significant cost savings for the building owner and improved outcomes for students.

Student outcomes: http://www.nrel.gov/docs/fy00osti/28049.pdf
Pacific Gas and Electric Company (research conducted by the Heschong Mahone Group, Fair Oaks, CA), Daylighting in Schools: An Investigation into the Relationship Between Daylighting and Human and Performance, 1999.

Energy usage: http://www.lightnowblog.com/2009/01/study-captures-daylightings-hvac-and-lighting-energy-savings-impacts/

Daylight harvesting strategies: http://www.inive.org/members_area/medias/pdf/Inive%5CIBPSA%5CBS05_0501_508.pdf

Green Building Rating Systems and Schools – LEED for Schools

Of the three green school rating systems under discussion, more schools have been built using the LEED rating system than either CHPS or Green Globes. Let’s look this week at LEED for Schools. (LEED has several different categories – this discussion is specific to LEED for Schools only.) Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), as of 2009, uses 100 points. Another 10 points are able to be earned by the use of Innovation in Design and Regional Priority strategies. The 100 points are earned in five areas:

1. Sustainable Sites (SS)
2. Water Efficiency (WE)
3. Energy and Atmosphere (EA)
4. Materials and Resources (MR)
5. Indoor Environmental Quality (IEQ)
And the two optional strategies:
1. Innovation in Design (ID)
2. Regional Priority (RP)

Each of the five mandatory strategies (SS, WE, EA, MR, and IEQ) are further broken down into prerequisites – mandatory requirements, and credits. Each LEED building must meet all the prerequisites in order to obtain LEED certification at any level. Once prerequisites are met the project uses credits as a “shopping list” based on the project’s environmental and performance goals for certification.

LEED certifications are awarded on the following basis:
LEED Platinum 80 points and above
LEED Gold 60-79 points
LEED Silver 50-59 points
LEED Certified 40-49 points

The prerequisites (required strategies) for Sustainable Sites are
1. Construction Activity Pollution Prevention and
2. Environmental Site Assessment
A total of 17 credits are available for Sustainable Sites. Each credit is worth from one to four points.

The prerequisite for Water Efficiency is
1. Water Use Reduction
Four credits are available for Water Efficiency, with each credit worth from one to four points.

The prerequisites for Energy and Atmosphere are
1. Fundamental Commissioning of Building Energy Systems
2. Minimum Energy Performance
3. Fundamental Refrigeration Managerment
Eight credits can be earned for Energy and Atmosphere. Each credit is worth from one to nineteen points.

The prerequisite for Materials and Resources is
1. Storage and Collection of Recyclables
Ten credits can be earned for Materials and Resources, with each credit worth from one to two points.

The prerequisites for Indoor Environmental Quality are
1. Minimum Indoor Air Quality Performance
2. Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS) Control
3. Minimum Acoustical Performance
A total of twenty two credits can be earned for Indoor Environmental Quality, with each credit worth from one to three points.

Optional credits:
Innovation in Design offers one to four points for Schools, with one point awarded for each Innovation achieved, or provide Exemplary Performance in an existing prerequisite or credit.

Regional Priority credits are new to LEED as of 2009. Regional Priority’s six credits are based on specific environmental zones. “A project that earns a Regional Priority credit automatically earns one point in addition to any points awarded for that credit. Up to four extra points can be earned in this way”. For more information on Regional Priority credits go to www.usgbc.org