Green Schools For More Than Learning

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The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, has launched a new “50-50” initiative to build cost-effective, and environmentally-friendly green schools across the United States in an effort to provide a conducive learning environment for all children, no matter their socioeconomic status.

“My wife is a teacher and this week she is teaching in a 90 degree classroom, where the windows won’t open, we would like to put our children in classrooms where they are inspired” Fedrizzi said. “We have to demand green schools for our children, there is no turning back,” Richard Fedrizzi, founding chairman of the USGBC, said at the National Press Club.

“Some 55 million students spend their days in schools that are too often unhealthy and restrict their ability to learn,” Gregory Kats said. Kats is the author of the study “Greening America’s Schools: Costs and Financial Benefits.”

“These green, high performance schools generally cost more to build, which has been considered a major obstacle at a time of limited school budgets and an expanding student population.”

“Although this is a national challenge,” U.S. Rep. Jeremy Kalin (DFL-Minn.), said. “We can make it happen through the Green School Caucus.”

U.S. Rep. Patricia Haddad (D-Mass.), added, “One of the biggest challenges in Massachusetts is that our buildings are old; our cities are struggling to make buildings energy efficient.” However, she explained that building green schools will provide a healthier learning environment for children by generating quality air and quality lighting. Concluding, she said, “Our caucus is well on the way in being created. This is probably the most important thing we can do for our kids.”

State Rep. Karen May (D-IL.) explained that many children suffer from building-related illnesses in traditional school buildings such as asthma and allergies.

Children that attend green-built schools are moving and improving. Rep. Mary Brandenburg (D-FL) explained that “studies show that student test scores go up in green buildings. Palm Beach County just opened up its first green building a few weeks ago. Why, because it’s smart.”

“We expect to save on electricity and water,” Rep. Brandenburg said. “We expect to break even in nine to ten years.” In the end, she explained, that she hopes to see
a monetary return as a result of going green.

Rep. Kalin added, “By 2025, we are now going to get 28 percent of our electricity from non-fossil energy.” However, some critiques argue that green schools are not any different than conventional schools.

“The U.S. House recently approved $20 billion to build public schools that meet green school standards, without presenting any evidence,” Dr. H. Sterling Burnett, a senior fellow at the National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA), noted in the viewpoint section of The Examiner on September 9th. Dr. Burnett explained there has been some controversy over whether green schools contribute to improved student and energy-efficient outcomes.

“In no case was the so-called green school the most energy-efficient in the district,” Burnett noted in his article.

Todd Meyers, who is an adjunct scholar at the NCPA, warned, “Before Congress jumps on the green school bandwagon, spending billions to meet green standards, it should be skeptical of projected energy savings and reductions in student absenteeism.” “The results are clear,” Myers explained, whose viewpoint was noted in The Examiner on September 9th.

In light of such criticism, the USGBC published a detailed report in October 2006 which covered a total of 30 green schools and concluded that “Greening school design is extraordinarily cost-effective compared to other available measures to enhance student performance.” In fact, the study showed that “In 2005, Turner Construction released a survey of 665 executives at organizations in building. Of those involved with green schools, over 70 percent reported that green schools reduced absenteeism and improved student performance.”

In Washington, D.C. alone, the study revealed that “students’ attendance rose by five percent after incorporating cost-effective indoor air quality improvement.”

In addition, Kats explained, “A study of Chicago and Washington, DC schools found that better school facilities can add three to four percentage points to a school’s standardized test scores.”

The study also showed that “Green schools cost on average almost two percent or $3 more per square-foot than conventional schools,” Kats explained. “The financial benefits of greening schools are about $70 per square-foot, more than 20 times as high as the cost of going green.”

At present, the USGBC has over a thousand green schools registered in the U.S.; this includes private, as well as public schools. To learn more about this study log onto http://dsforgau.ozstaging.com/downloads/greening_americas_schools.pdf.

Irene Warren is an intern at the American Journalism Center, a training program run by Accuracy in Media and Accuracy in Academia.