Facilities (Learning Spaces)
Doing it right can save money and please the district and community.
Emerging Technology
Using facilities technology as a teaching tool.
- By Andrew LaRowe, Mike Raible
- 07/01/13
Facilities (Managing Assets)
Thoughts about the silent consumption of energy on campus.
- By Pieter van der Have
- 07/01/13
Trends In Green
Energy-efficient propane can help schools be and save green.
- By Lynette Von Minden
- 07/01/13
Facilities (Campus Spaces)
Here's how two campuses are satisfying administrators by saving money and satisfying students by increasing sustainability in their restroom and locker room renovations.
Trends in Green (Sustainable Innovations on Campus)
Wesleyan University’s student-designed permaculture garden blooms to life.
- By Yael Chanoff, Olivia Drake
- 07/01/13
Trends in Green
How Seattle's Bertschi School expansion became the fourth "Living Building" in the world.
- By Brian Cunningham
- 06/01/13
Facilities (Learning Spaces)
Creating a sustainable building envelope can be complicated, but worth it. Think about today and tomorrow. Educational institutions need to plan for sustainable management of their built assets both now and in the future. Building envelopes are part of that effort.
So what is the solution to IEQ factors, acoustics, daylighting, thermal control, air quality and the effect each of these places on the other? The short answer is proper planning and coordination.
- By Steven Thorburn
- 05/01/13
Edison Technical High School was originally founded in 1906, just 21 years after Fresno, Calif., was incorporated as a city in 1885. Those who had originally traveled to central California in search of gold and adventure found the regions soil rich
As architects and designers we are uniquely able to incorporate sustainable strategies into all of our projects, regardless of whether or not the project will be filed to achieve third-party certification. Sustainable strategies can be incorporated into any project through passive strategies, mechanical systems, and finish and furniture selection.
- By Peter Johnston, Laura Nemerson
- 05/01/13
Reducing energy consumption is hugely beneficial, and nearly everyone is practicing good kW-cutting habits. But the second most direct route to decreasing energy costs is often overlooked: managing the energy purchase itself. The largest barrier to purchasing energy at lower prices: understanding the deregulated energy markets.
Something old, something new? That may work great in weddings, but how about campus renovations? In constructing new buildings, assuring good indoor environmental quality (IEQ) is a basic consideration. But when it comes to renovating older facilities, special efforts must often be taken to apply modern standards in acoustics, daylighting, thermal comfort, and air quality.
Sure, it’s easy to toss trash into the proper receptacles and to turn off the lights when leaving a room, but how does a university with thousands of personnel, administrators, and students on campus initiate a greener place to live, work, and study? Green initiatives for the higher education sector are everywhere, and there are so many ways that colleges can get involved, from implementing cleaner technologies that use less power consumption to offering vegan dining choices in the cafeteria to properly disposing of old, outdated printers.
Intelligent services combine technology, proprietary analytics and expertise in heating, ventilating and air conditioning (HVAC) systems to continuously collect, interpret and act upon data from building systems and controls to optimize operational perfor
There are many ways to "go green." There are a plethora of examples of schools and districts that are working to reduce their environmental impact while educating their communities about the sustainability challenges of the 21st century.
- By Danielle Przyborowski
- 04/01/13
Beyond the prospect for energy savings, many school boards assume there will be additional costs associated with green buildings, including the LEED certification effort and the associated building materials and mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems
- By Todd Bushmaker
- 04/01/13
Both security and sustainability are important. Newtown and other school shootings make the case for security. The case for sustainability is strong, too. Estimates say that buildings produce 35 percent of the carbon dioxide emitted in the U.S. and use 37
- By Michael Fickes
- 04/01/13
While the nonstop, point-grabbing treasure hunt for Silver, Gold, or even Platinum certification has forced architects to get better at designing and creating more efficient structures, everything outside the building envelope has basically remained an afterthought. This narrow approach not only downplays the complex role a project’s site plays in its overall sustainability, it also ignores cultural and contextual considerations that are critically important to campus planning and design. Thankfully, there could be help on the horizon with the long-overdue introduction of the Sustainable Sites Initiative (SITES) into the certification game.
Given that an investment in a LEED building is 40 to 50 years or longer, a related investment in management and maintenance will also run for many decades. Unfortunately, maintenance is often not adequately considered in advance, and when budgets tighten, deferring building maintenance can seem like an attractive option to universities who are trying to stretch their dollars. So how does a cash-strapped public institution pay for green construction and maintenance?
Carbon neutrality, net-zero, whatever you call it, is going to be the way everybody will judge the success of sustainability strategies for school districts. Schools are public institutions by their very nature, and the public more and more desires that i
Unity College in central Maine is a small liberal arts college with a big voice in the national sustainability conversation. We take seriously our leadership role in higher education and across sectors, preparing our students for leadership roles of their own in a changing world. From our unique sustainability science focus throughout the curriculum, to our first-in-the-nation commitment to divest our endowment from fossil fuels, we aim to model viable approaches to sustainability education that improve learning, engage the community, and decrease environmental impact.
- By Jesse Pyles, Doug Fox
- 04/01/13
The Center for Green Schools at the U.S. Green Building Council was established to educate and change our schools into sustainable and healthy places. We believe that everyone should have the opportunity to learn in an environment that enhances the educat
- By Mallory Shelter
- 04/01/13
Higher education has already taken a leadership role in climate mitigation — that is, preventing climate change by reducing greenhouse gas emissions — as displayed by the 660 signatory campuses of the American College & University Presidents’ Climate Commitment (ACUPCC) who have collectively reduced net carbon emissions by 25 percent in just five years. Now, higher education must take the lead in climate adaptation — preparing for and responding to the impacts of climate change.
- By David Hales, Sarah Brylinsky
- 04/01/13
Everybody loves the idea of creating a clean, green world and passing that world on to future generations. People recycle competitively, monitor energy usage dashboards, and approach LEED certification with gusto. Security, on the other hand, is reactive. Most individuals don’t really consider it until an event brings safety to the forefront. Yet both must co-exist on today’s college campuses even though they may be at odds.
Longwood has practiced sustainability by heating with biomass fuel (sawdust) for over 30 years. Longwood is the only public institution of higher education in Virginia and one of only two state agencies that burns biomass for heating fuel. Current annual energy savings are more than $4.9M when compared with burning oil, which the University used as its fuel source before switching to biomass.
Increasing demands for high-performance and sustainable designs are challenging laboratories and research facilities to consider their energy and water usage. Laboratory design is constantly evolving and outdating previous methods due to new building and energy codes, and lab designers are seeking game-changing ideas. This makes innovative design solutions more imperative than ever.
- By Gerald Williams
- 04/01/13
So, why have smart campuses found sustainability such an attractive value proposition? In short, because our customers are demanding sustainability, because it saves money, and because higher education’s ethical license to operate is at risk if we don’t respond to a society beset with myriad unsustainable ailments.
As of April 4, 2013, there were 665 signatories to the American College & University Presidents’ Climate Commitment. Sustainability efforts on campus have become essential as college hopefuls are now adding a “green campus” to their selection criteria!