Green Building Council (USGBC) named the winners of the 2011 Green Schools Committee Innovation Grants program. The 2011 Grant is a one time matching grant of up to $3,000, to support the Chapter Green Schools Committees in their efforts to build support of green schools in their communities. The Grant seeks to support the ever growing national green schools movement through resource development and by encouraging community and chapter collaboration.
Green Schools Committee Innovation Grants are awarded for creative, innovative community outreach and resource development. By supporting the following projects, USGBC seeks to support the entire chapter network and beyond, ensuring that all communities can achieve the Center for Green Schools' goal of green schools for all within this generation.
2011 Grant Winners
California Central Coast Chapter
Gateway to Green Schools Initiative
California Central Coast's goal is to provide all 83 schools in the tri-county school districts the opportunity to develop their green strategies through resources and seed money. This program strives to promote green initiatives in schools and serve as a gateway to encouraging schools to participate in a more comprehensive greening effort such as LEED. The Chapter's Green School Resource Guide, which includes seven simple strategies for schools to implement in existing schools, will be rolled out via media and web outlets this fall, and the Chapter will award up to six schools with seed funds to pursue green building goals.
Central Ohio Chapter
Ohio Green Schools Compendium
The Ohio School Facilities Commission (OSFC) is currently managing more than 250 LEED for Schools projects across the state of Ohio. The state's commitment to green school construction will result in an unparalleled wealth of information regarding cost, performance and other data on these schools. The Central Ohio Chapter will work with OSFC to compile, organize, and leverage the data that will come out of these LEED projects. The grant will allow the Chapter to hire a qualified researcher to compile and analyze the data, as well as provide funds for a published report of the results, via print and web.
Charlotte Region Chapter
Outdoor Classroom: Green Building Systems
The Charlotte Region Chapter is working with Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools (CMS) to build a "Green Building Systems Outdoor Classroom" on a high school campus. The classroom will consist of a free-standing demonstration green roof (at ground level), a water catchment system, a photovoltaic array, weather station, and computerized monitoring system. The facility will be used by all of CMS as well as other local organizations as a learning laboratory, integrating green building concepts into the school curriculum and the community. In addition to serving its community, the Green Schools Committee will help document and publicize the process of implementing the project, so that it may serve as a prototype for future projects in other communities and schools.
Delaware Valley Green Building Council (DVGBC)
Green Your School Workshop
DVGBC will create and launch a program that will demonstrate how to initiate a successful student-led energy conservation and green schools programs in participating local schools. A companion webinar will be developed and disseminated through the DVGBC website, social media and to USGBC and its chapters, promoting the program's message and instruction region-wide and beyond.
The program is student-centered, student-driven and student-led. The Workshop will provide participants with sample energy conservation and assessment guides and forms, as well as other relevant tools and resources to initiate student-led, in-school conservation programs. It will connect students, teachers and administrators with the resources necessary to follow through on the energy assessment results and adopt measures to green their schools.
Florida Gulf Coast Chapter
Teaming Up for Green Existing Schools: A Public-Private Partnership
The Florida Gulf Coast Chapter has been working with several community partners, including the Tampa Bay Rays, to promote and support the implementation of green strategies in local existing schools, including direct support of a school's pathway to LEED for Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance certification. This year's grant will support the expansion of Pasco County's green existing schools work into a regional (and beyond) resource. The Chapter will develop a virtual notebook for schools to use when greening their existing facilities.
Illinois Chapter
Bringing Green to Chicago's Classrooms
USGBC-Illinois will provide Chicago Public School (CPS) students with hands-on green building design and operations lessons and experience. In conjunction with CPS's Department of College and Career Preparation, the Chapter will identify two to three CPS high schools within the district's Architecture and Construction program. The students from participating schools will visit a green building to see and experience firsthand a variety of green building technologies and strategies. The Chapter will develop and distribute a program replication guide for other Chapters interested in developing such a program in their communities.
Massachusetts Chapter
Plug Load Usage Green Guide (PLUGG) Project
The PLUGG Project will create a replicable educational curriculum module focused on the measurement and tracking of plug loads in school facilities. The project will be disseminated to the Massachusetts Charter Public School Association (MCPSA), Massachusetts Association of School Superintendents (MASS), and independent schools in Massachusetts. This project will provide a package of tools for teachers to empower students with a better understanding of how electronics and appliances use energy. The intention of the PLUGG Project is to be replicable in high schools across the country, through such resources as the lesson plans and supporting materials.
Minnesota Chapter
Minnesota Green Schools Coalition: Website Development
The Minnesota Chapter will develop a web-based clearinghouse for the growing number of school organizations and groups that are currently working together to form the Minnesota Green Schools Coalition. The Chapter has been working with like-minded groups and education organizations to establish a state-wide Green Schools Coalition, in order to collaborate effectively for the benefit of Minnesota's schools. The website will provide a user-friendly means for school stakeholders to learn how to support the green schools movement by providing a platform for communication, collaboration, and resources-sharing and development across the state.
Orange County Chapter
Healthy Green Schools in a Generation: 2011-12 Green Classroom Project
The USGBC Orange County Chapter goal for this project is to demonstrate the economic savings and health benefits of a green school retrofit. They will use two adjacent classrooms within a school, each with similar orientation and educational program. The chapter will partner with design and construction professionals to retrofit an existing classroom with materials and systems proven to reduce operating expense, improve indoor air quality, and conserve resources, as well as implement educational signage. Both classrooms will be outfitted with advanced measurement devices to track energy and water use in real time. This project will result in a package that will be shared through Orange County's 38 public school districts, as a roadmap for additional schools to follow the lead of this pilot project.
Tennessee Chapters (East TN, Memphis Regional, and Middle TN)
Green Tennessee Schools: Website & Smartphone Application
The Tennessee Chapters are collaborating to create a versatile, simple and effective tool to promote green building efforts, practices and communication in schools across the state. A website and its corresponding smartphone/tablet application will connect stakeholders to trusted and vetted resources, including case studies, information regarding national and local incentives, and simplified "how-to" guides for replicating successful initiatives, large and small.
Vermont Green Building Network
Greening Vermont's Schools: For Cost Savings and Student Performance
Using a case study of the green renovation of the Barnes Sustainability Academy in Burlington, the "first sustainability themed K-5 Magnet School in the U.S.," the VGBN will create a guidebook to assist school districts with declining enrollment concerns with sustainable renovation project support and guidance. Barnes has already reduced its energy use by 75%, and is has led two additional Burlington Public Schools facilities to follow its best practices.
VGBN intends to provide the guidebook as a resource to other states facing declining school enrollments and limited new school construction opportunities. The guidebook will be distributed to other schools, as well as the State Department of Education and other chapters.
For questions regarding the 2011 Grant, or other Green Schools Committee programs, please contact Emily Knupp, Center for Green Schools K-12 Associate. [email protected]