Green Trends for 2012: LEED, Net-Zero Energy and Green Schools
Green building in all U.S. construction sectors will continue its rebound this year as the economy struggles to return to pre-recession levels. While the slowdown in commercial real estate projects and funding has definitely put a crimp in many green building projects, interest does remain high for green school construction.
Jerry Yudelson, principal at Yudelson Associates, a Tucson, Ariz.-based green building consulting company and the author of 12 books on green buildings, sustainable development and water conservation, says the latest green trend remains going through the process of becoming LEED certified.
“It doesn’t sound like a big deal, but K-12 has been lagging particularly in that area,” he says. “Higher education has pretty much been on board for quite some time. In the university arena, everyone wants to do LEED gold or platinum building going forward. And we’re finding that many universities are doing sustainability master plans that cover residential, foodservice, operations, transportation and more.”
For K-12 schools, green building has been slower, largely because it can take five or more years for a school to be built after the budget has been approved, he says. Many school districts are also in cost-cutting modes making it difficult for school architects to design good green projects without spending extra money.
“And, there’s always a retired contractor on the budget committee who is convinced the school is spending too much money,” Yudelson adds. “You should be building a school for a lifespan of 50 to 75 years that’s worth an extra investment.”
He also says that it wasn’t until a few years ago that the United States Green Building Council put together a green schools initiative that things started to move.
“The key has been leadership at the national level that has been pushed down to the local level. This was the extra boost that got people to realize that we are building these schools for the most vulnerable population — kids — in terms of asthma and air quality. So why can’t we put solar on the roof, measure our energy use and make it part of the energy instruction?”
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