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Tag: Energy Efficiency

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Bendici, R.

Historic schools in Boston, built before World War II, are finally receiving a facelift.

On the other side of the country, Carmel USD in California found that controlling and maintaining lighting in nine sites spread over 600 square miles can save energy and maintenance hours.And a 10-year deferred maintenance plan in Sycamore Community Schools in Cincinnati will ensure that statewide testing will be smooth and glitch-free.

Such projects represent just a fraction of construction work underway across the nation’s schools.

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Koo, Kim, and Hong, 2014

Since the increase in greenhouse gas emissions has increased the global warming potential, an international agreement on carbon emissions reduction target (CERT) has been formulated in Kyoto Protocol (1997). This study aimed to develop a framework for the analysis of the low-carbon scenario 2020 to achieve the national CERT. To verify the feasibility of the proposed framework, educational facilities were used for a case study. This study was conducted in six steps: (i) selection of the target school; (ii) establishment of the reference model for the target school; (iii) energy consumption pattern analysis by target school; (iv) establishment of the energy retrofit model for the target school; (v) economic and environmental assessment through the life cycle cost and life cycle CO2 analysis; and (vi) establishment of the low-carbon scenario in 2020 to achieve the national CERT. This study can help facility managers or policymakers establish the optimal retrofit strategy within the limited budget from a short-term perspective and the low-carbon scenario 2020 to achieve the national CERT from the long-term perspective. The proposed framework could be also applied to any other building type or country in the global environment.

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Clean Technica, 2016

On March 1st San Diego’s third largest school district joined a growing number of school districts in California turning to energy storage to save on energy bills. Grossmont Union High School District in San Diego’s east county region announced plans to install 7.4 megawatt hours of energy storage across 14 sites and nine district locations in a partnership with California-based Green Charge Networks.

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ENVIRONMENTAL LAW INSTITUTE, January 2016.

Energy efficiency continues to be an important component of federal, state, and local efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. School facility upgrades that increase energy efficiency can help school districts advance their educational mission by reducing energy and other operating costs. Facility upgrades that protect and improve indoor air quality (IAQ) also support the core mission of schools by promoting staff and student health, productivity, and attendance. There is now broad recognition that it is possible to achieve both energy efficiency and indoor air quality goals as part of a school retrofit project. When undertaking energy efficiency and other facility upgrades, early consideration of IAQ issues can help schools avoid unintended, negative consequences and reap the twin benefits of energy savings and a healthier, more productive school environment.

State laws, regulations, and guidance can facilitate the integration of IAQ and energy efficiency goals. This report discusses three areas of potential policy development: state funding for school facility upgrades, energy savings performance contracting, and regulation of indoor pollutants during renovation. While these are not the only policy areas ripe for consideration, the examples described throughout the report reflect a variety of strategies for maximizing the health benefits of energy retrofits and other school facility upgrades.

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Steve Marable, 2014

The purpose of this study was to examine the environmental education curriculum which has been utilized within Green Schools. For this study the researcher defined Green Schools as educational facilities with Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification or United States Education Department (USED) Green Ribbon recognition. Currently, there is no set standard for the implementation of environmental education in Green Schools or for schools that utilize the building as a teaching tool for students. This descriptive study surveyed Green Schools in the Commonwealth of Virginia in order to better understand what common programs and curricula were being utilized. This study will also assist in establishing pedagogical best practices for environmental education while describing how LEED certified buildings are currently being used by educators as a teaching tool to support sustainable practices.

Overall, 14 Green Schools in the Commonwealth of Virginia agreed to participate in the study. Once principals gave consent for their school to participate in the study, they were asked to respond the survey instrument and invite teachers to participate in the Green Schools eSurvey also. The survey instrument consisted of 14 multiple choice and open response survey items. Overall, 98 principals and staff participated in the survey. Multiple choice survey questions served as the quantitative data for the research study. Quantitative data were examined to report descriptive statistics to provide parameters about the sample population. The frequency and percentage from each category, mean, and mode were also reported from each quantitative iii survey item. Qualitative data were examined by emerging themes according to pedagogical strategies and programs. The findings from the study indicated that teachers are employing practices that are consistent with current emphases on environmental education. Data also supported that educators take pride in their buildings and incorporate the facility as a teaching tool in a variety of instructional practices throughout the Commonwealth of Virginia.

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College Planning and Management, 2015

With more than 20 years of using technology and process to create facilities that are efficient, safe and productive for their occupants, intelligent buildings are not new. College Planning & Management recently caught up with Kerry Anne Dixon, LEED-AP BD+C, a project manager with a bachelor’s in architecture who serves as coordinator of Sustainable Design and Construction for Iowa State University in Ames, where she has worked since 1995, about the efficiencies gained and how intelligent buildings are living up to expectations on her campus. A member of APPA: Leadership in Educational Facilities, Construction Owners Association of America (COAA), and the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), for which she is the university’s representative, here’s what she has to say.

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College Planning and Management, 2015

With the passing of California’s Clean Energy Jobs Act (Proposition 39), Chris Manis, vice chancellor of Facilities Management for the San Diego Community College District (SDCCD), saw a golden opportunity to finance facility upgrades across his campus system. A state program providing funding for improving energy efficiency, Prop 39 makes available up to $550 million annually to eligible educational agencies to pay for energy projects with a strong return on investment.

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School Planning and Management, 2015

WHAT KIND OF LIGHTING SYSTEM SHOULD YOU BUY FOR YOUR NEXT ELEMENTARY SCHOOL BUILDING? HOW DID YOU MAKE THE DECISION?

By and large, today’s lighting choices include fluorescent and light emitting diode (LED). Choosing between the two requires an exercise in lifecycle cost estimating — figuring out which lighting system will cost less to buy, install and operate over the, say, 50-year life of the school building.

Fluorescent lighting certainly wins the first cost competition. Fluorescent lighting costs about 30 percent to 40 percent less than LED to acquire — a dramatically lower first cost.

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School Planning and Management, 2015

Signs can point the way to go, but also the ways that schools and society are going. That is, signage speaks to the continuing process of fuller inclusion, as well as a widening range of functions, technologies and materials, and today’s heightening educational and aesthetic expectations. Environmental expectations, too.

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School Planning and Management, 2014

“Energy conservation” were the words heard by many, either as students or administrators, after the 1973 oil embargo and emphasis increased with the second oil crisis in 1979 with the decrease oil production as a result of the Iranian revolution. These oil crises not only impacted crude oil prices but also the price of electricity, natural gas and coal. “Energy Conservation” could be heard in the boardrooms and hallways of our nation’s schools and universities, because of its impact on budgets. Actions taken were based solely on energy conservation, not energy efficiency. All of these actions were taken with no consideration on the educational impacts.

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