From the Editor
It’s that special time of year – the air is beginning to chill a bit, football season is kicking off, and eager young minds yearning to learn are again inhabiting the hallowed halls.

Of course, it’s important for facility executives to do everything they can to foster an environment that enhances learning. You may have heard of evidence-based design – mostly talked about in reference to health care settings. It’s a field of study that explores how particular building strategies affect humans. The same idea certainly applies to students and teachers.

Recent research has suggested that green school buildings can actually improves student performance. It’s pretty much common sense: Students who have better (non-buzzing) lighting and fresh air are not as distracted and perform better than those in older, inferior facilities. But people always want proof.

In a 2006 study titled “Greening America’s Schools,” the authors in spelling out the financial benefit of green schools, predicted a $49-per-square-foot benefit in lifetime earnings at a green school compared to a traditional school. The idea is that students in green schools would achieve higher test scores, get into better colleges, get better jobs, and make more money. If that sounds like a stretch, I’d invite you to read the study, which also cites several other individual studies showing how green schools improve the student and teacher experience.

If you’re looking for advice on how to green your school, the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED for Schools program can help. Updated this past April, LEED for Schools 2009 provides all kinds of tips and tricks for making schools environmentally responsible and student friendly.

As always, I’m interested to hear from you. Which green strategies have you implemented in your schools? Have they worked well? Why or why not?

Cheers,

Green Strategies
Greening Existing School Buildings
These tips can help you institute green operations and maintenance strategies in existing K12 and college facilities.

In the News
Sierra Club Ranks Green Schools
In its annual ranking, the Sierra Club rates colleges and universities on eight categories: efficiency, energy, food, academics, purchasing, transportation, waste management, and administration.

Green Toolkit
Build Green Schools
The U.S. Green Building Council built and maintain this site, which includes an interactive guide to help green schools, advice on how to capitalize on incentives and rebates, and several videos and links to case studies.

Green Pulse

Have you seen measurable results from green strategies you’ve implemented in schools?
— Yes, there’s been a marked improvement.
— Anecdotally, yes, but improvements are hard to measure.
— No, we haven’t seen any improvement.

Click here to respond to the poll. If you are not yet a member of MyFacilitiesnet.com, please click here first to register, then sign into your account, and then click here to vote.

GreenTech Conference & Exposition

Going Green For Less: Green Performance Contracting

This presentation from GreenTech 2009 provides tips and tricks on how to implement a green performance contract – a strategy that cash-strapped school districts are using more frequently to make energy efficiency upgrades at no out-of-pocket cost.

Also, registration for Facility Decisions is now open. The show is being held Sept. 22-23, 2009, at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

If you’re attending this year’s show, please consider attending a special preconference workshop titled Getting Started With LEED-EB. The session will take place on Sept. 21 from 1 p.m to 4:30 p.m. with presenter Michael Arny of the Leonardo Academy. The cost of the session is $99.