Higher Learning

America's schools are registering at one school a day for the Washington, D.C.-based U.S. Green Building Council's (USGBC) LEED certification program for green schools, signaling their intent to build and operate schools that are more energy and water efficient.

Michelle Moore, senior vice president, USGBC, noted that there are about 100,000 public and private schools in the U.S., and that fully one-third of their facility costs are in heating/cooling buildings, providing water, electricity, and other energy/utility functions.

"Pennsylvania, Michigan, New Jersey, Oregon, and Virginia have the most LEED certified schools to date, and many local school districts and state departments of education are beginning to develop and implement policies that require schools to be built green," according to Moore.

As part of its school design standards, Ohio is one state that's leading the way with hundreds of new and renovated schools set to meet higher energy efficiency and environmental standards through the Ohio School Facilities Commission’s adoption of the LEED for Schools Rating System. When the Commission did the math, it determined it could save $1,415,529,914 in taxpayer money over the next 40 years by reducing the energy consumption of school buildings.

The newly-formed Green Schools Caucus in the U.S. House of Representatives has lent a federal voice to the green schools agenda. Created by co-chairs Rep. Darlene Hooley, D-Ore.; Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas; and Rep. Jim Matheson, D-Utah, the goals of the caucus are to raise awareness of the benefits of green schools, lead the policy discussion on the topic in various forums, create legislative opportunities for the collective efforts of the caucus members, and provide members of Congress with constituent outreach resources.

Comments

[Justin Roy]

Great post Jamie! Good to hear more school districts are realizing the benefit in going green. Amazing how much money will be saved with these changes!

Though I wonder, will the savings be passed back to the taxpayers, put back into the school system (books, supplies, teacher salaries), or be used for other public-funded projects?