Green Building Rating Systems and Schools, Part 1

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