 |
| Show me the 'green': Principal Sally Selby explains energy-efficient aspects of metal shades to visitors touring the environmentally
friendly middle school building of Sidwell Friends School. Andy Nelson - staff |
Earth-friendly school
Kids at Sidwell Friends School in Washington, D.C., love their new 'green' campus.
from the March 11, 2008 edition
Page 2 of 2
Page 1 | 2
Lessons from the building
Mechanical controls, vents, and pipes in plain view make it easier to understand how everything works. Along the wide, open hallways filled with natural light, wind chimes in vents signal when fresh air is being taken into the building. In science class, everyone reads the monitors to note how temperature and levels of carbon dioxide change throughout the day.
The building is a great place for environmental detective work, too.
"I asked the students to look around and tell me where paper was used to make something in the classroom," says Jennifer Mitchell, who teaches fifth-grade science. "One student looked up and said it was in the ceiling tiles, and he was right. The ceiling tiles are made from recycled newspaper."
Let the sunshine in
The building's greatest energy saving is in its use of light. The large windows have light shelves above that reflect natural light farther into rooms without letting in heat from the sun. On the south side of the building, where the sun is strongest, horizontal screens shade classrooms from glare. On the east and west sides, vertical screens shade windows when the sun is low.
Some days, the overhead fluorescent lights never need to be turned on. That saves not only the energy it takes to keep lights on; it also saves the energy it takes to cool down the building from all the heat that lights can generate. The result is that such an efficient building has helped the school cut its energy use by 60 percent.
All about the environment
From the day the doors to the new building opened, changes have echoed through Sidwell Friends School. The cafeteria has been serving more organic and locally grown food.
There's an environmental club called ECO, and students have begun to teach their parents about more energy-efficient ways of doing things at home.
"We have such an opportunity here," says Ms. Mitchell. "As you learn about the building, it makes you think how much sense it makes to do things this way."
Isabel likes science very much and says the new building has made science even more interesting for her.
"It went from little in-class experiments to really learning about the school itself as an experiment," she says. "I think I can speak for our whole grade, saying that suddenly you just understood your environment and how you affect it."
Green schools across America
From Hawaii to New Jersey, a growing number of schools in the United States are going green. An organization called the U.S. Green Building Council is helping to spread the word. It has certified more than 70 schools as "green," and hundreds more have applied for certification.
Here are some neat ways schools across the country have cleaned up their acts:
Clackamas High School in Clackamas, Ore., used native plants that are pest-tolerant to reduce the need for pesticide use on school grounds. Solar power serves as an energy source. And students monitor the effect their school has on its watershed. They also plant trees, help remove invasive species, and collect garbage in their community on weekends.
East Clayton Elementary School in Clayton, N.C., uses recycled denim to insulate walls and protects the air around the school by not allowing buses to idle outside the building.
Desert Edge High School in Goodyear, Ariz., has a white roof to reflect the blazing desert sun, motion and daylight sensors to turn off lights when they're not needed, and sensors that monitor stale air in the building and automatically open vents.
Fossil Ridge High School in Fort Collins, Colo., runs on energy from wind and solar power.
Great Seneca Creek Elementary School in Germantown, Md., uses a geothermal heating and cooling system that's buried deep underground.
Lick-Wilmerding High School in San Francisco has photovoltaic cells that generate the power to run dozens of computers, and there are plans to erect a windmill. Students compost cafeteria food and run a recycling program.
One World Montessori School in San Jose, Calif., uses green cleaning products and avoids using pesticides on school property.
Punahou School in Honolulu, Hawaii, has student lockers made from milk cartons and floors made of recycled tires.
T.C. Williams High School in Alexandria, Va., has a rooftop garden and a huge underground storage tank to hold rainwater runoff for use in the building.
Willow School in Gladstone, N.J., turns off the heating and air conditioning when the outside temperature is between 65 and 80 degrees F. Then, a light comes on to remind students to open the windows. Solar power that's generatÂed on campus provides some electricity.
1 | Page 2
RSS feed
