Green School Buildings News

    • New Ferguson Elementary nears completion.

      Posted: June 2, 2010

      When Sarah Baker took three students through the new Ferguson Elementary School in York recently, they just couldn't believe they will get to go to school there. "They just stood there with their mouths open," the principal said. Read More...

    • Groundbreaking for New Net Zero Energy Public School in Texas.

      Posted: June 2, 2010

      Charter Builders and Irving Independent School District recently celebrated the official groundbreaking for the largest “net zero” public school in the United States. The first of its kind in Texas, the school district’s Lady Bird Johnson Middle School is designed to produce as much energy as it uses, thereby reducing operating costs for the district and shrinking the school’s carbon footprint. Read More...

    • Cities to receive Partners for Progress awards.

      Posted: June 2, 2010

      Partners for Progress of Greater St. Charles will present its annual awards during the Celebration 2010 banquet set for 6:30 p.m. Friday at Lindenwood University's Spellmann Center in St. Charles. The city of Lake Saint Louis will receive the 2010 Health Progress Award for passing the first city-wide smoking ban in St. Charles County, effective in October. The ban applies to enclosed public areas. Read More...

    • Boise kids learn green skills for a green economy: High school students complete one of the nation's first student-built homes to qualify for environmental certification.

      Posted: May 18, 2010

      There's no "new house" smell in this recently completed Southwest Boise home -- and that's a good thing. "That new house smell means there are toxins," said Scott Larson, a teacher with the Boise School District's residential construction program. Larson's class recently finished the home, which meets internationally accepted benchmarks for design, construction and location to boost the home's energy efficiency and overall eco-friendliness. Read More...

    • Area schools going green in construction and in the classroom

      Posted: April 23, 2010

      TRI-STATE — Elementary, middle and high schools across the Tri-State are getting serious about energy by installing geothermal wells, recycling cafeteria waste and turning off lights. The moves are not only designed to reduce utility costs and help the environment, but to provide lessons about sustainable living for students. Read More...

    • Millikens donate $2 million to Spartanburg Day School project

      Posted: April 23, 2010

      Just in time for Earth Day, Spartanburg Day School announced a $2 million donation Wednesday to green up its nearly 50-year-old buildings.Brothers Roger and Gerrish Milliken gifted the money to spearhead a $3.8 million efficiency project, under the condition the school seeks Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification for its oldest buildings. Read More...

    • Sacred Heart Schools, Atherton Achieves Highest Industry Accolades.

      Posted: March 11, 2010

      Sacred Heart Schools, Atherton (SHS), www.shschools.org, a Roman Catholic, independent, coeducational school for students from preschool through twelfth grade, has just achieved two major “firsts” for its dedication to environmental responsibility. First, its newly constructed Michael J. Homer Science and Student Life Center has earned the first newly created Platinum-level Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) for Schools certification in the nation – the highest LEED rating a school building can receive from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). Read More...

    • As LAUSD tightens belt, 'green' resolution helps trim water, energy costs.

      Posted: March 6, 2010

      The 3-year-old program has been carving away at future utility expenses for the sprawling system. 'Our mission is to be the greenest school district in the country,' says school board president. Read More...

    • Lake Mills creates 'green' school.

      Posted: February 12, 2010

      LAKE MILLS - The walls in the new addition to Lake Mills Middle School are painted several different colors, each representing a class from fifth to eighth grade. But the color the school will be known for will be “green.” Read more...

    • The New Case for Green Schools: Environmentally smart design can help raise test scores, cheer staff, and boost a district's bottom line.

      Posted: February 3, 2010

      Forget the notion that going green is merely hip. Administrators have an arsenal of reasons to advocate for environmentally friendly building design and operation. A green school is healthier. It can improve student performance and provide hands-on learning opportunities. Most importantly: Going green saves money, big time. Read More...

    • NorthWrite is chosen by the State of Idaho to provide its Energy Expert software to track energy use and savings for its 700 building K-12 School Energy Efficiency Project

      Posted: January 29, 2010

      NorthWrite and its reseller partner, Smart Buildings, Inc., today announced that they have been selected by the State of Idaho’s Office of Energy Resources to provide NorthWrite’s unique wireless monitoring and web-based Energy Expert software services to support the state’s K-12 School Efficiency Program. The Idaho project is providing HVAC tune-ups and select retrofits for each of the 700+ K-12 classroom buildings in Idaho. Read more...

    • Nashville schools adopt eco-friendly lifestyle

      Posted: Sept. 7, 2009

      Buckets for food waste in the school cafeteria. Ceramic plates, bowls and mugs instead of Styrofoam. Energy-efficient light bulbs and geothermal heating and cooling system. A growing number of Nashville's public and private schools have been spending money on those and other environment friendly projects, going beyond just teaching about them in classrooms. Some already have seen returns on their investment. Read More...

    • River Crest Elementary School Earns LEED

      Posted: Sept. 4, 2009

      APPLETON, Wis. – River Crest Elementary School in Hudson, Wis., recently received the designation of LEED Gold from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), the nation's foremost authority on green buildings. Hoffman LLC, an Appleton, Wisconsin-based planning, architectural, and construction management firm, designed and built the highly-sustainable and eco-friendly school. Read More...

    • One Minnesota school goes green (with video)

      Posted: Aug. 3, 2009

      It's expected to be the greenest school in Minnesota. Construction crews are busy putting the finishing touches on the new George W. Gibbs Elementary. Read More...

    • Daylighting improves performance, mood

      Posted: Aug. 1, 2009

      In 1993, Wal-Mart conducted an experiment in daylighting in its new Lawrence, Kan., store. In one half of the store, lights were switched off, and sunlight was allowed to stream down from a vast ceiling of skylights onto the merchandise below. In the other half, there were no skylights, and the store was illuminated solely by "artificial" fluorescent lighting. Otherwise, the two halves of the store were identical, with the same merchandise on display -- in other words two parallel universes with different lighting sources. Read More...

    • School's green roots go deep

      Posted: July 22, 2009

      CHICAGO – Classrooms in Chicago's Tarkington School of Excellence are equipped with natural light sensors, temperature-regulating windows and acoustically sound walls. It's easier for students to learn in a school that focuses on environmental awareness and education, said school officials. Read More...

    • 'Green' High School to Open in DeKalb Co

      Posted: July 20, 2009

      DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. – The school year starts in just three weeks for many metro area public schools. In southeast DeKalb County, the doors will open on a brand new, environmentally-friendly high school that will be the first of its kind in Georgia. Read More...

    • Performance enhancements: Cincinnati Public Schools uses sustainable-design strategies to rethink the gymnasium

      Posted: July 10, 2009

      You don't have to spend a lot of time searching the Internet to find study after study proclaiming the benefits of so-called green schools — facilities that create healthy, learning-conducive environments while saving energy, resources and money. Reports of improved test scores and reduced student absenteeism caused by illness come from all regions of the country. Read More...

    • Murphy School District: Going greener, healthier

      Posted: June 14, 2009

      PHOENIX, Ariz. — Green building is not just about saving energy. In the Murphy School District, it is also helping to build a healthy community. My district is in one of the toughest and grittiest neighborhoods in Phoenix. We have a documented rising incidence of asthma and pulmonary problems. Read More...

    • Scottish schools to go greener

      Posted: Jan. 13, 2009

      Scotland's schools are to become greener under a new Government initiative to promote renewable energy and energy efficiency. Read More...

    • Eco-friendly schools offer students fresh lessons

      Posted: Oct. 20, 2008

      GERMANTOWN, Md. — On the outside, Great Seneca Creek Elementary School looks much like any other. But inside, it is unmistakably green. Read More...

    • Spring Mills elementary to be West Virginia's first green public school

      Posted: Sept. 30, 2008

      MARTINSBURG, W.Va. — Construction of West Virginia's first "green" public school - in northern Berkeley County - should begin next spring, state and county officials confirmed Monday. Read More...

    • If you green it: How the private sector is beating Washington in making buildings the next frontier in environmentalism (with video)

      Posted: Sept. 24, 2008

      It's difficult to think of a skyscraper – the ultimate inanimate object – as having much to do with environmentalism. But the concept of green building has arrived – if not front and center in Washington, at least in the minds of a diverse coalition of green activists. As part of TNR (The New Republic) TV's series on contemporary environmentalism, this episode explores how the concept of sustainable design has leapt from the pages of glossy magazines like Vanity Fair to the long-term planning of corporations, real estate developers large and small, and an increasing number of everyday Americans. Read More...

    • Group to promote state legislative efforts to build green schools

      Posted: Sept. 8, 2008

      A trade group that promotes green building design is urging state legislatures to form caucuses to support environmentally sustainable schools. The U.S. Green Building Council, the Washington, D.C.-based group that promulgates the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating tool, is spearheading the "50 for 50" effort to lower school energy and maintenance costs and bolster student learning and health. Read More...

    • Solar energy projects to help power three schools

      Posted: Sept. 8, 2008

      ROCKVILLE, Md. – Montgomery County Public Schools announced it will install solar photovoltaic systems on the roofs of several schools. This initiative will make MCPS the first school system in the state of Maryland and the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area to launch a large-scale solar photovoltaic program. Each solar PV system within the program will be capable of producing between 100 and 400 kilowatts of electric power. Read More...

    • Costs, concerns push schools to use eco-friendly elements

      Posted: Aug. 1, 2008

      WASHINGTON — Waterless urinals. Geothermal cooling systems. Photovoltaic solar panels. The space shuttle? Try your child's school. Read More...

    • Reaching critical mass: Green schools groundswell

      Posted: July 1, 2008

      LEED for Schools was one year old in April, and according to U.S. Green Building Council Education Sector Manager Rachel Gutter, today between one and two schools register for LEED certification every day. Underlying this groundswell is a combination of enormous stakeholder advocacy for the program, a growing concern about rising energy bills at the school district level, and development of the tools and information that allow for economical and standardized green school construction. Read more...

    • Harvard, Sidwell embrace green design in labs, roof

      Posted: June 30, 2008

      A small middle school with plants sprouting on its roof and a research complex at Harvard University with sunlight-harvesting glass-bubble lounges would seem to have little in common. Yet both show how quickly the green revolution in building design is moving, unleashing architectural inventiveness not seen in 100 years. Read more...

    • Greening the school house

      Posted: June 27, 2008

      Last month, to far (FAR) less attention than it merited, the House of Representatives passed the 21st Century Green High-Performing Public School Facilities Act with $20 billion for greening public schools across the nation. Read more...

    • 'Green' schools a thing of the future?

      Posted: June 17, 2008

      The schools of Beaufort County, S.C.'s, future could operate with dramatically lower utility costs and offer a healthier, more comfortable environment for students and faculty that can improve learning. Read more...

    • USGBC: A school a day is registering for LEED for schools

      Posted: April 29, 2008

      One school a day. That’s the rate America’s schools are registering for the 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, which will save taxpayers money. Green schools also have significantly improved indoor air quality, and that results in healthier kids. Read more...