Summary: A new Web site launched by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) on October 16 is designed to give community stakeholders—students, parents, teachers, school administrators, elected officials, and community members—a new resource that will enable them to join construction industry members “in the effort to ensure a future of green schools for every child within a generation.”

Myriad benefits
The new Web site promotes the benefits of green schools, including:

• A superior indoor environment, with clean, fresh air, free of dangerous chemicals from everyday products like carpets, paints, and cleaning materials
• Use of as much natural daylight as possible, which maximizes students’ ability to concentrate and stay physically and emotionally healthy
• Reduced energy costs and greenhouse gas emissions—on average, the USGBC says, green schools use 33 percent less energy and 32 percent less water than conventional schools
• Green schools’ better lighting, temperature control, ventilation, and indoor air quality contribute to reduced asthma, colds, flu, and absenteeism, which helps improve learning and test scores and ultimately increases lifetime earnings for students
• Jobs—according to the USGBC, greening all school construction would also create more than 2,000 new jobs each year from increased use of energy-efficient technologies
• Boosted morale and improved teacher retention.

The Web site also connects to articles and podcasts from a variety of sources that show green school design in action. It also offers building profiles of schools that have already gone green, examples of green policies instituted by local jurisdictions, resources and links, and even a MySpace site for users to discuss their ideas and share experiences. The site also connects to “Green America’s Schools: Costs and Benefits,” by Gregory Kats, a 2006 study sponsored by the AIA, USGBC, and other groups, which states that building green would save an average school $100,000 each year in energy costs alone.

For more information, visit the Web site.