Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

Guidance For Schools Integrating Indoor Air Quality And Energy Efficiency Available From EPA

  • 09/01/15

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) published a guidance in 2014 to help school districts protect indoor air quality while increasing energy efficiency during school renovations. When it was released, Janet McCabe, who was an acting assistant administrator for EPA’s Office of Air and Radiation, said, “This guidance provides common-sense solutions for improving energy efficiency and indoor air quality in schools across the country. By using these guidelines, school districts can cut their energy bills and help ensure that students have a healthy and safe learning environment.”

The EPA says both energy management and protection of indoor air quality (IAQ) are important considerations for school facility management during energy upgrades and retrofits, and schools can protect occupant health by addressing both goals holistically. These renovation and construction activities can create dust, introduce new contaminants and contaminant pathways, create or aggravate moisture problems, and result in inadequate ventilation in occupied spaces. EPA’s “Energy Savings Plus Health: Indoor Air Quality Guidelines for School Building Upgrades” offers opportunities to prevent and control potentially harmful conditions during school renovations.

The practices outlined in the guidance support schools as healthy, energy-efficient buildings that play a significant role in local communities. Nearly 55 million elementary and secondary students occupy our schools, as well as 7 million teachers, faculty and staff. In addition, many communities use school buildings after regular school hours as after-care facilities, recreation centers, meeting places and emergency shelters during natural disasters.

The guidance builds on EPA’s existing programs, such as ENERGY STAR for schools and “Indoor Air Quality Tools for Schools,” which helps schools identify, resolve and prevent air quality problems, often with low- and no-cost measures.

Today, half of the schools in the United States have adopted indoor air quality (IAQ) management plans, the majority of which are based on EPA’s IAQ Tools for Schools. However, there are still about 25 million children in nearly 60,000 schools who are not yet protected by IAQ management programs.

Go to www.epa.gov/iaq/schools/energy_savings_plus_health.html to download the guidance and www.epa.gov/schools for other school environmental health resources.

This article originally appeared in the issue of .

Featured

  • Architectural Power for the Modern Campus Landscape

    For generations, an outdoor classroom only required a textbook and a patch of grass. Today, not only has the laptop replaced the printed pages, the rise of agile learning has turned campuses into study halls with students listening to lectures and researching topics from quads, gardens, and plazas. The challenge for architects and facility managers is to provide connectivity without cluttering the landscape with visual eyesores or creating safety hazards with extension cords.

  • FGCU Breaks Ground on New Health Sciences Building

    Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU) has launched construction on a major new academic facility that leaders say will reshape healthcare education in Southwest Florida for decades to come, according to university news.

  • Dallas ISD Voters Approve $6.2B Bond Package

    Dallas ISD voters have approved a record-setting $6.2-billion bond package that district leaders say will modernize aging campuses, eliminate portable classrooms and reshape learning environments across one of the nation’s largest school systems.

  • Deferred Maintenance Issues Growing at Universities, Gordian Reports

    U.S. colleges and universities are falling increasingly behind on facilities maintenance and repair, according to Gordian’s 13th annual State of Facilities in Higher Education report. The deferred capital renewal burden has reached $156 per gross square foot, an 8% increase over the previous year.