CHPS Hosts First School Conference
SAN FRANCISCO — Daylighting, energy efficiency and indoor air quality were the talk of the town on Sept. 27 at the first Greentools for Healthy Schools Conference.
Hosted by the Collaborative for High Performance Schools, a San Francisco-based nonprofit organization that provides consulting services and certification programs for green school projects, the daylong event brought together state officials, industry leaders and school officials to discuss the design, construction and maintenance of healthy and sustainable schools.
Matt Peterson, president and CEO of Global Green, a national organization that works to create healthier societies through green construction and access to clean drinking water, was keynote speaker. He kicked off the conference with a reminder that schools are built for students and addressed how sustainable design concepts can benefit schools through reduced energy use.
A series of workshops at the conference were lead by industry experts. Topics included CHPS tools and resources for high-performance design and construction, the integration of high-performance schools into the larger community, commissioning, maximizing energy efficiency, daylighting strategies and indoor air quality.
A panel of state and school officials addressed policies for green construction, at the state and national level, and funding opportunities for schools. Panelists included Jack O’Connell, state superintendent of public instruction; David Thorman, AIA, state architect; Bill Savidge, AIA, vice chair of the Coalition for Adequate Student Housing and engineering officer at West Contra County Unified School District; and Rob Cook, executive officer for the Office of Public School Construction.
O’Connell stressed the importance of healthy schools and the impact of sustainability on student performance.
“Research and data clearly link school environments that are healthy, clean facilities with academic achievement and better student progress,” O’Connell says.
The amount of funding available to schools for construction projects has grown substantially in the last seven years since voters approved Proposition 39, according to O’Connell. The measure authorized bonds for repair and construction or replacement of school facilities and classrooms
“The state has generated close to $20 billion from the time Proposition 39 passed in November 2000 to today,” O’Connell says. “From 1986 to 2000, we were passing 53 percent of our local school bonds. Today, it’s 83 percent of our local school bonds.”
The Division of the State Architect, which uses the guidelines specified in the CHPS Best Practices Manuals as a standard for all of its school projects, is working toward certifying more than half of its staff under the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED certification program to increase opportunities for schools to work with certified experts in the design and review of sustainable school plans.
Thorman also announced that the division plans to have all new schools grid-neutral by 2010.
“The plan may sound ambitious, but I think it’s doable,” Thorman says. “We’ll be working closely with the state’s Green Initiative Team and the Office of Public School Construction to find ways to make schools not only grid-neutral, but also revenue-neutral, if at all possible.”