The way Joshua Radoff calculates it, building a school that's LEED-certified - that is, that's built according to stringent energy efficiency and other holistic and sustainability design criteria - adds about $3 per square foot to the cost of the project.

Yet over the next 20 years, that same investment can yield benefits totaling $74 per square foot in energy savings, reduced health care costs, lowered absenteeism, staff retention and other assorted assets.

For example, green schools are less susceptible to mold and "sick building syndrome" than conventional schools. And asthma is one of the leading causes of school absenteeism, Radoff said. Studies show that green schools experience a 25 percent reduction in asthma-related absences.

"Building green is not just about saving energy," Radoff told more than 200 educators, architects, builders and others assembled Friday for the state's first Green Schools Summit. "The benefits have been demonstrated. Daylighting (letting in lots of natural light and limiting artificial light) results in higher test scores. Students just perform better."

Radoff, principal with YRG Sustainability Consultants and a member of the U.S. Green Building Council Colorado Board of Directors, was among  nearly a dozen presenters, all of whom want to see Colorado continue to take the lead nationally in greening its schools.

"Colorado is in the vanguard of a movement that will be commonplace in a few years," said Tom Plant, director of the Governor's Energy Office. The vision: By 2015, all new and remodeled schools in Colorado will be high-performing green schools.

The presenters were largely preaching to the choir on Friday. Of the 23 school districts represented, most had undertaken some sort of school greening project. They didn't deny the benefits, but bemoaned the financial straits in which many find themselves.

"Finding the extra money up front is an issue," said Joede Schoberlein, an architect from Basalt currently working with a charter school with a $1 million budget. "But we know it will pay off in the long run." Besides, he said, school officials often find it easier to raise money for capital campaigns for new schools buildings than to raise money down the road to pay for utility bills.

Mark Payley, superintendent of Weld School District RE-8, in Fort Lupton, said he's sold on building green schools because of the lessons implicit in the choice to do so.

"I'm glad we're concerned about the environment our children and their children will inherit," he said. "Schools seem like a logical place to start building green. If not us, then who? I'm hoping that everybody walks away from this summit today with at least one idea for something they can do. Our schools should be teaching vehicles about the environment."

Payley said his district is weighing options for building a school that could combine classrooms with an environmental demonstration site. "We'd like to become a teaching site for the public, to expand our vision beyond just kids," he said.

Kelly Reed, superintendent of South Routt County Schools, located in the Yampa Valley, about 20 miles south of Steamboat Springs, said his district's decision to replace coal boilers with clean-burning geothermal pumps had less to do with energy savings than with health issues.

Coal is cheap in the Yampa Valley, and nearly a third of the parents in the school district are employed by the coal industry. Reed determined that the district was unlikely ever to recoup the costs of such a project based on energy savings alone.

"But we were polluting the air, and our kids were in an environment that just wasn't healthy," he said. "Coal has worked, and worked well for a long time. Unfortunately, it's just no longer viable. We had to look for alternatives."

"Now, the school will be set for the next 30 years, and everyone will be freed from these coal contaminants. And we're providing a role model to our children that this is the right thing to do."

What makes a building green?

* Economically sustainable
* Energy efficient
* Resource efficient
* Community enhancing
* Healthy and comfortable
* Climate appropriate
* Durable
* Program and market appropriate
* Integrated design and construction

Source: YRG Sustainability Consultants

Online green schools resources:

Collaborative for High Performance Schools - The Collaborative for High Performance Schools (CHPS) is the standard for designing California's public schools. This website includes a Best Practices Manual, a reference for high performance school design. The CHPS program is being adapted by other states.


The Pacific Northwest Pollution Prevention Resource Center (PPRC ) - This website includes links to sustainable design guides from California, Colorado, Washington; and resources on whole-building approaches to school design, site preservation, building enclosure, renewable energy, resource conservation, green power, alternative fuels, transportation, indoor air quality, and daylighting. 

United States Green Building Council Build Green Schools Website - Learn what makes green schools better for students. Learn about LEED, the national benchmark for high-performance schools. Find videos, research, case studies and other resources. Read the most green school news and get involved.

LEED-Registered and Certified Schools - Find maps and lists of schools that are already LEED Certified and maps and lists of schools that are re LEED-registered-currently being designed and/or constructed and going for LEED-certification.


Energy Smart Schools - This website includes resources on how to plan, design, build and operate an Energy Smart School, plus creative activities and curriculum for all ages.



 

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