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California Often Establishes Environmental Policies that later are adopted by other states or the federal government. The state’s purchasing guidelines forced important changes in product formulations to comply with IAQ or recycled-content mandates. California’s leadership in the green-schools movement is equally trend setting. With an innovative and far-reaching call to build zero-energy schools that use little to no energy by 2010, California is bringing fundamental change to the often static school market. Several educational institutions, including public school districts, private schools and libraries, are not waiting for government policies to dictate school construction. They are moving quickly to build and operate facilities that save energy and benefit the next generation of learners.

GREEN BY NUMBERS With roughly 9,800 public elementary and secondary schools in the state serving 2.6 million students, California boasts more public schools than any other state, according to the National Center for Education Statistics, Washington, D.C. There are an additional 3,500 private elementary and secondary schools serving roughly 585,000 students, according to the California Department of Education, Sacramento. With so many children to serve, it’s understandable that California focuses financial and policy attention on greening schools.

One of the first green-building rating programs designed specifically for K-12 schools started in California. The San Francisco-based Collaborative for High Performance Schools, or CHPS, facilitates the design, construction and operation of high-performance schools, which are defined as environments that are not only energy and resource efficient, but also healthy, comfortable, well lit and contain the amenities for a quality education. (To read an interview with Charles Eley, CHPS’ executive director, see “perspectives,” September/October 2005 issue, page 66.) As of July 2008, there were 24 completed CHPS-rated school projects in California with another 39 in progress. Twenty-seven school districts across California have formally adopted CHPS guidelines as policy.

The U.S. Green Building Council, Washington, also is making a concerted effort to improve the environmental performance of U.S. schools. As of June 2008, there were three completed LEED-certified school projects in California, including Chartwell School, Seaside, which boasts a LEED Platinum rating (see “Chartwell School Scores High,” page 34). There also are another 70 registered LEED school projects in California, which is the most for any state. “By the nature of their use, schools provide tremendous opportunities to reduce energy costs and incorporate environmentally responsible building elements,” says Scott Shell, principal with EHDD, an architectural firm based in San Francisco.

“Schools are typically 1 to 2 stories and operate during the day, which enables enhanced daylighting and reduced lighting loads.” Despite great strides in energy efficiency and IAQ, a LEED-certified or CHPS school isn’t necessarily zero energy, which is the long-term vision for California schools. ZERO-ENERGY SCHOOLS Imagine having an additional $210 million per year in your state’s education budget. According to the Sacramento-based California Office of Public School Construction, that’s enough to hire 2,100 teachers, purchase 3.5 million textbooks or buy 210,000 computers. An innovative plan to make schools energy independent may free up that much funding for California schools. In December 2007, State Architect David Thorman called for all new schools in California to be zero energy by 2010. According to Thorman, zero energy is when a building generates enough energy on-site or, in a school’s case, within a district to meet its energy needs.

Understandably, during peak energy-use times, schools may be pulling energy from the grid, but they would give energy back during non-peak time. According to a white paper published by Thorman and released at the 2007 Green California Schools Summit, which was held in Pasadena, the state is spending $5 billion annually building and renovating approximately 15 million square feet (1.4 million m²) of K-12 schools. With average energy costs running $1.43 per square foot per year, a zero-energy environment using clean, locally generated energy could save $21.5 million per year and as much as 30,000 tons (27216 metric tons) of carbon-dioxide emissions each year.

The state plays an important role in facilitating the construction of green schools through funding. It boasts $100 million in High Performance Incentive Grants to promote designs and materials that, among other notable goals, save energy and water, maximize the use of natural lighting and improve IAQ. In June 2008, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger awarded $1.9 million to three schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District, or LAUSD, to incorporate cool roofs, high-efficiency water fixtures and enhanced daylighting.

TOOLS FOR SCHOOLS

“The path to greening our educational system rests in giving school superintendents, facility managers and others the tools necessary to make cost-effective improvements to existing facilities,” says Rachel Gutter, USGBC’s schools sector manager. Later this year, USGBC will release its Green Ex² toolkit to help school districts green their operations. USGBC will select 10 school districts to participate in a pilot program to receive free training and one-on-one assistance. Upon completion of the pilot phase, USGBC will train additional instructors who then will deliver in-person training to interested schools and districts around the country. This initiative follows last year’s announcement by USGBC to establish the National Green Schools Advocacy Program to help school boards recognize the financial and environmental benefits of green building. In California, there are seven trained advocates who work to mobilize coalitions of parents, school-board members, teachers, facilities managers and others to campaign on behalf of green schools.

SCHOOL DISTRICTS GO GREEN

With a long-term facilities modernization and repair program budget of $7.7 billion, LAUSD, which encompasses 1,190 schools and centers, is well positioned to incorporate green-building elements into its projects. LAUSD has opened two showcase high-performance CHPS schools, including Maywood Academy, a 1,200-student, 45-classroom high school, and Charles H. Kim Elementary, an 800-student, 32-classroom elementary school. In June, the district broke ground on Central Region High School No. 13, which aims to be one of the district’s greenest schools with innovative water-management and energyefficiency systems. In addition, the district has applied CHPS criteria to the planning and design of 42 new schools and 15 existing schools.

LAUSD also recently won an award from the state of California for its Integrated Pest Management program. The program stresses prevention—better sanitation, inspections and beneficial insects—to head off pest problems that, left untreated, could require chemical treatment. The Milpitas Unified School District located in the San Francisco Bay area is an example of a school partnering with industry to achieve its energy objectives. The district, in a power-purchase agreement with Chevron Energy Solutions, San Francisco, and Bank of America, Charlotte, N.C., will construct solar installations across 14 school sites in the form of freestanding shade and parking structures. In total, the project will generate 3.4 megawatts of energy. Solar power is expected to provide 75 percent of district electricity needs during the school year and 100 percent during the summer. This is believed to be the highest percentage of solar power used by any K-12 school district in the country.
PRIVATE SCHOOL OPPORTUNITIES

California ’s private schools are unable to access some of the schoolconstruction- funding mechanisms available to public schools. Although some private schools are fortunate to command high tuitions from financially well-off student populations, most are forced to conduct extensive fundraising campaigns, seek grant monies and borrow through traditional financial institutions. Another financing option that is increasingly popular with private schools is to borrow against endowments. With greater flexibility in how to allocate expenses, private schools recognize that tapping endowments to pay upfront capital costs for solar-power systems or other green-building improvements is a smart business decision. Endowments can be replenished with interest because of reduced energy costs. Some schools also are able to incorporate construction improvements into green educational curricula, such as renewable-energy principles based on the school’s photovoltaic system. Oakland, Calif.-based Head-Royce School is an 800-student K-12 private school. In 2006, the school began a community-wide initiative to help develop Head-Royce School as a model green school, according to Dennis Malone, the school’s director of finance and operations. Head-Royce formed a Green Council to demonstrate how to establish a more sustainable way of operating, focusing on four broad areas: sustainable resources, nutritional food, an ecological curriculum and a healthy environment. One of the major initiatives the council and school recently completed was the installation of a 72-kilowatt solar array. The system will produce enough power to offset the school's annual electricity costs by about 35 percent. In addition, the array installer developed a solar curriculum tailored for primary, intermediate and secondary schools and makes it available to clients.