When a $73-million bond passed in November 2007, savvy Sedona administrators decided to invest the money in solar energy in order to reduce energy consumption. This would allow them to pay their utility bills without having to dip into other line item cos
What may have been impossible five to 10 years ago is very possible today due to the advancements in sustainable technologies and the continuing decrease in costs for these systems. With the coupling of energy reduction principles such as geothermal, alon
Public education in the United States is under attack, and not just from one side or another; it's from politicians of all stripes who see education as a pot of money that they do not (yet) control.
Each year the U.S. produces more than 4.5M tons of solid waste, much of which consists of recyclable or reusable materials. By reducing waste and creating more sustainable practices, colleges and universities could save thousands each year.
While some institutions are using the economy as an excuse to shy away from sustainable design, others choose to concentrate on the potential savings. These savings can range from reduced utility costs by improving operational efficiencies and performance
The key to risk management is heightened awareness. If schools take the time to educate faculty about updates in technology, such as Ultrasurf, potential problems can be minimized. The time is now, as the worst can be avoided by informing teachers before
What is the classroom of the future? It's flexible in furniture and format. It's loaded with technology that assists the learning process. It's an extension of the outdoors. It's a community space. It's designed for independent or
It is not a focus on standardization that will make our students succeed. It is cultivating their individuality, their creativity and their ability to look at things differently. Just knowing what everybody else knows will not cut it in today's world
From meetings and discussions with community college leaders nationwide these themes of opportunity and challenge are consistent: changing perception, providing accessibility, raising the bar, making education affordable, designing spaces so that communit
Clearly, education is changing on many levels the addition of technology, the advent of online education, the accessibility and ubiquity of information, the comfort level of students and professors in using technology, the delivery of education, th
While multitasking/multipurpose spaces have always been a part of K12 facilities, they are becoming more and more prevalent in higher education settings. Flexible audio/visual systems allow large rooms to successfully host a variety of events from s
Security technology and IT have converged, but there are three steps to the process: personal relationships between the security director and the IT director, an IT director to guide the installation of security technology on a campus network, and the IT
The community school movement certainly favors conventional community school notions, but it goes far beyond convention. This movement envisions schools as hubs for a long list of community services designed not only to improve the education offered by th
The right building system choice can save a college or university a significant amount of time and money. The wrong system can suck up funds, energy, and man-hours. Here, we take a look at some of the current trends in building systems.
Part of the all-hazards planning process involves a recognition of the hazards that must be addressed for your organization's geographic location. No community is immune to these types of threats. Though the risk to most specific communities from rad
The Hillsborough County School District, in Tampa, is the ninth largest in the country. We have created and implemented the following mechanical engineering systems for our school buildings to provide consistent and dependable indoor air quality, reduce c
Intentionally Christian, purposefully urban, and purposefully multicultural, North Park University in Chicago anticipates more enrollment growth in the future. While a diverse, urban campus have helped the University, a restructuring of tuition and financ
While most schools have been using video for years now, most are still not using it to its full potential. Centralizing the management and monitoring of video is the first step to its strategic utilization, which provides superintendents and district-leve
In school parlance, demographic studies essentially mean projecting the number of students likely to be enrolled in the district and individual schools next year and over a period of five to 10 years. The simplest and most effective way to do that is call
Something hard for a baby boomer to use is easy for the young digital natives that are in school trying to learn how to think and reason their way out of a project. What works for a person or a small group of people in an intimate setting on the park benc
NIMS is a flexible, plain English organizational framework designed to provide a common standard for emergency management. It is flexible in that the components of NIMS can aid in the development of plans, processes, procedures, agreements and roles for m