Gustavus Adolphus College is a private liberal arts college of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America in St. Peter, MN. In an integrated and conscious effort to promote sustainable efforts, choices such as reusable to-go containers, high-efficiency wa
With the green movement gaining momentum, it is still a surprise to some at just how few districts have stepped up and committed to green resolutions for their schools. In Orange County (CA), slices of green can be found within several districts. At Brea
Building Green and educational environments for special-needs students.
A survey published in a recent issue of USA Today asked average Americans how likely they were to shop for environmentally responsible products during the economic downturn. The answer surprised me. Thirty-four percent were more likely to, and only eight
The National Commission on Teaching and America's Future (NCTAF) recently released Learning Teams: Creating What's Next, a report detailing an impending wave of teacher retirements and new solutions to address the supply of teachers in our natio
Administrators committed to ensuring their campuses and surrounding communities are safe are also looking to align with contract security partners who want to provide security solutions with sustainability in mind. I lead the Higher Education division of
Why should school districts worry about today's down economy? After all, the vast majority of their income comes from state legislatures and local property taxes, with some additional funding from the federal government.
School business officials sh
Youngstown State University (YSU), located in northeastern Ohio, encompasses approximately 4M sq. ft. Approximately 2M sq. ft. of the gross square footage is occupied as usable space. In 2006, YSU entered into a Performance Contract (PC) with a building e
What makes developing a sustainability plan so difficult is the disparate number of tangible and intangible elements that need to be considered, including energy use, campus mass transit, water use, recycling, indoor air quality, on-site alternative energ
To better understand the current rage for "green" buildings, it is important to refer to fundamental principles of sustainable design. Of these, the most basic ideas can be found in passive solar strategies that incorporate many traditions of in
When it comes to green initiatives, Western Kentucky University (WKU) in Bowling Green sticks to a very old-fashioned concept: Officials here emphasize less driving. And they do it by offering a bevy of cutting-edge technology solutions that give professo
Imagine a place where rainwater and ecology are part of a child's curriculum, where the amenities around the school are developed upon a framework of design principles that reintegrate students into the environment.
Because data centers are such energy hogs, many building owners assume they can't pursue a LEED-certified green building because their center cancels out the sustainable effects of the rest of the building. But by applying some of the fundamental ten
Total Project Management (TPM) is an exclusive process that provides a single source of responsibility for all planning, architecture, and construction needs. This process increases accountability, eliminates the blame game, streamlines the scope of work,
School district decision-makers face a multitude of challenges, but possibly one of the biggest responsibilities they are charged with is creating schools that offer productive learning environments while being fiscally responsible to tax payers. They wan
With the recent passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, school districts nationwide have an unprecedented opportunity to construct new high-performance schools and modernize existing facilities to significantly decrease energy consumption a
Building Green and educational environments for special-needs students.
With the launch of YouTube EDU (www.youtube.com/edu) in March, Google has made available, for free, more than 200 full courses from 100 universities and colleges. Schools participating in YouTube EDU include MIT, Yale, Harvard, Stanford, and UC Berkeley.
The environmental and financial cost of non-compliance can be high, and surprise inspections from the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) or state regulators routinely turn up multiple violations, even at campuses that consider their compl
Without changes in the way buildings are designed and constructed, costs will continue to rise. Total world consumption of marketed energy is projected to increase by 50 percent from 2005 to 2030, per the U.S. Energy Information Administration. As univers
While the oil story is an important one, there is another pressing problem that has received little attention and is getting worse in more and more areas of the U.S. every year: chronic water shortages. Shortages are occurring in water-rich areas as well