· Siting

· Indoor Environment

Quality (IEQ)

· Energy

· Water

· Materials

· Community Matters

· Faculty & Student

Performance

· Commissioning

· Facilities

Performance

Evaluation

· FAQs

Sustainable Schools

Introduction to Sustainability

Whether it's termed "Sustainable", "High Performance", "Green", or "Environmentally-friendly", people have varied notions about what sustainable building means. Some think it means saving energy. Others think it means protecting the environment. While these are important aspects of sustainability, they are not sufficient to describe it, because sustainability has a human dimension as well.

Sustainable building can provide improvements in lifestyle, comfort, satisfaction, and health along with protecting ecosystems and saving energy and resources. It integrates the project designing, planning, and engineering, in order to work with, not against nature. Sustainable building practices incorporate nature's "free" services (wind, sun, thermal properties, greenhouse principles, light, etc.) to create a high quality indoor environment while circumventing as much damage to the ambient environment as possible.

Building Construction

Buildings are a primary source of pollution that leads to urban air quality problems, climate change, habitat destruction, and overfilled landfills. The challenge will be to design and construct buildings prudently, so that they use a minimum of nonrenewable energy, produce minimum pollution, and use as little extracted material resources as possible, while at the same time increasing the comfort, health, and safety of the people who live and work in them.

Traditional building practices often overlook the interrelationships between a building, its components, its surroundings, and its occupants. "Typical" buildings consume more of our resources than necessary, negatively impact the environment, and generate a large amount of waste.

Conversely, sustainable building practices offer an opportunity to create environmentally sound and resource-efficient buildings by using an integrated approach to design. Sustainable buildings promote resource conservation, including energy efficiency, renewable energy, and water conservation features; consider environmental impacts and waste minimization; create a healthy and comfortable environment; reduce operation and maintenance costs; and address issues such as historical preservation, access to public transportation and other community infrastructure systems. The entire lifecycle of the building and its components is considered, as well as the economic and environmental impact and performance.

School Construction

"High Performance School" refers to the physical facility. Good teachers and motivated students can overcome inadequate facilities and perform at a high level almost anywhere, but a well-designed facility can truly enhance performance and make education a more enjoyable and rewarding experience. A high performance school is healthy; thermally, visually, and acoustically comfortable; energy, material, and water efficient; safe and secure; easy to maintain and operate; commissioned; has an environmentally responsive site; is a building that teaches; a community resource; is stimulating architecture; and is adaptable to changing needs.

The Division of the State Architect's goal is to work in a coordinated effort with other organizations to provide a comprehensive website on sustainable school construction issues. By utilizing the tools presented, schools can become shining examples of high performance building in their community, and will be looked upon as the leaders and pioneers of a new era of environmental, communal, and economic-conscious construction.

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