Bill Increases Energy Efficiency in Oregon's Schools

Bill 2960 is bringing energy efficiency upgrades to Oregon schools. The bill enabled school districts to apply for low cost financing to pay for energy efficiency upgrades in schools.

Utility bills are one of the largest expenses for most Oregon school districts and are growing about 10 percent every year. Upgrading older buildings improves efficiency, ventilation and lighting while riding schools of mold and asbestos.

“Cool Schools is a triple-win for Oregon,” said Governor Kitzhaber. “The program will bring family-wage jobs, cost savings, and better learning environments to schools in communities across the state.”

These types of efficiency measures have been proven to decrease absenteeism and improve student test scores.

This bill also creates green jobs, for every $1 million invested in energy upgrades the state estimates that 15 jobs are created.

© 2011, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

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Organizations and Groups in the USGBC's Center for Green Schools

The US Green Building Council's (USGBC) Center for Green Schools is dedicated to increasing the number of green schools. Here are some of their organizations, groups and initiatives.

The Coalition for Green Schools
An alliance of the nation's leading educational and environmental associations, including the American Architectural Foundation, American Federation of Teachers, National Education Association, National PTA, National School Boards Association and many others, the Coalition is in pursuit of a common mission: provide every child in America with a green school. For more information or to apply click here.

The 50 for 50 Green Schools Caucus Initiative
This initiative equips state legislators with the knowledge, tools and networks they need to advance effective state policies that promote the benefits of green schools. For more information click here.

Mayors' Alliance for Green Schools
The Alliance unites mayors from major cities and small towns across the country around a common goal: bringing the benefits of green schools to their local communities. For more information click here.

USGBC Chapter Green Schools Committees
Across USGBC's national chapter network, more than 1,000 Green Schools Committee volunteers are leading local and regional campaigns to promote healthy green school buildings. Committees raise community awareness, host green schools events, give presentations, support local schools, engage educators and work with local media to share their stories. For more information click here.

USGBC Students
Representing college and university-based groups of students from all disciplines who come together to green their campuses, communities and careers, USGBC Students has 60 active groups and expects to engage more than 250 student groups nationwide over the next five years. For more information or to get involved click here.

Center for Green Schools Fellows
The Fellows program connects carefully selected and extensively trained green schools experts to serve as full-time sustainability officers to local school districts for three-year terms. Fellows provide dedicated, hands-on project and organizational support for district-wide green schools initiatives. For more information click here.

Congressional Green Schools Caucus
Under bipartisan leadership on Capitol Hill, and with programmatic support from the Center for Green Schools, the Caucus brings together nearly 60 federal legislators to educate and inform Congress on the enormous impact of greening our nation's schools. For more information click here.

Take Action
You can promote green schools in your community or school district by supporting a green schools resolution. Policies endorsing green schools have been enacted in state legislatures, by school boards, and by city councils across the country. Good first steps towards passing a green schools resolution are identifying local partners, making the case, working from a sample resolution and learning best practices from other communities . For more information click here.

© 2011, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved

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Green School Buildings Offer Many Benefits

Green school construction offers many benefits including thousands of new jobs. Green schools use an average of 33% less energy and 32% less water than conventional schools. A 2006 study sponsored by the American Federation of Teachers, the American Institute of Architects, the American Lung Association, the Federation of American Scientists and USGBC found that building green would save an average school $100,000 each year in energy costs along – enough to hire two new additional full-time teachers, purchase 5,000 new textbooks, or buy 500 new computers.

Green schools have a superior indoor environment, with clean, fresh air, free of dangerous chemicals from everyday products like carpets, paints and cleaning materials.

Green school buildings make use of as much natural daylight as possible, maximizing students’ ability to concentrate and stay physically and emotionally healthy while at the same time dramatically reducing energy costs and greenhouse gas emissions.

Green schools’ better lighting, temperature control, ventilation and indoor air quality contribute to reduced asthma, colds, flu and absenteeism, helping improve learning, test scores and lifetime student earnings. And green schools boost morale and improve teacher retention.

© 2011, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved

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USGBC's Center for Green Schools

The the U.S. Green Building Council's (USGBC) Center for Green Schools envisions green schools for everyone within this generation. To help achieve this objective the USGBC provides resources for green builders, school administrators, elected officials and community members.

S. Richard Fedrizzi, the President, CEO and Founding Chair of USGBC believes "there is no other market that speaks more powerfully to the benefits and potential of green buildings than our schools."

According to Fedrizzi, "The Center for Green Schools at USGBC is helping to engage educators in creating sustainable learning environments for their students and apply solid research to inform leadership—from school boards to college presidents—about the benefits of healthy, high-performing schools. They are working with state and local governments to draft smart, practical policies, and they provide trainings and helpful resources to those who need it most—K-12 schools serving lower-income families, under-resourced institutions and community colleges. The Center serves to convene conversations with key decision makers, collaborate with leading education and environmental associations and create tools and resources that help make green schools possible."

Fedrizzi also states that, "Advocacy tools are also being created and disseminated to support USGBC Student Groups and our nationwide network of more than 1,000 Green School Committee volunteers. We want to inspire innovation that can be replicated and deployed at lightning speed to every school and every college and university campus in this country and beyond."

The Center for Green Schools web site is filled with facts on the benefits and costs of green schools, including the ways green schools foster learning, decrease student and teacher absenteeism from respiratory and other illnesses, reduce energy and water bills, and provide models for teaching the world’s future leaders about sustainability to benefit communities for generations to come.

They provide profiles of green schools, examples of policies governments and school districts have instituted to ensure future schools are green, an extensive list of resources and links, and a social networking site where visitors share their experiences, best practices, and creative ideas.

The USGBC’s LEED® (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) for Schools green rating system provides green-building guidelines and offers third-party verification to ensure schools’ stakeholders that their buildings incorporate the best in science, design and technology to make their schools truly green.

For more information on the Center for Green Schools, click here.

© 2011, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

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The Campus Green Builder Online Portal

The Campus Green Builder (CGB) online portal provides information for academic institutions. this is a one-stop online resource on campus green building that is free and accessible to all higher education institutions. Though the information provided is relevant to all higher education institutions, the CGB is particularly geared towards under-resourced colleges and universities. It aims to level the playing field for all institutions of higher education to gain access to funding and technical resources for green building.

Under-resourced colleges often have financial constraints that make it difficult for them to embrace the shift to green building and sustainability initiatives on their campuses. The goals of the Campus Green Builder are to:

1. Advance green building at colleges and universities so that it becomes “business as usual."

2.Level the playing field for all institutions of higher education in terms of accessing funding, technical resources, and networks for green building.

3. Provide an up-to-date resource on relevant news, events and other opportunities, including grant opportunites.

4. Provide opportunities for under-resourced institutions to share their experiences and learn best practices.

Second Nature, a nonprofit organization advancing sustainability in the higher education sector, launched a strategic outreach and education program, the Advancing Green Building in Higher Education Initiative, to assist under-resourced higher education institutions, such as many Minority-Serving Institutions, community and technical colleges, and small inner-city, rural, or religiously affiliated institutions to “build green” on their campuses. The Campus Green Builder web portal is one of the principal activities within this initiative.

The Advancing Green Building in Higher Education Initiative, in collaboration with The Kresge Foundation, aimed to provide long-term capacity for under-resourced higher education institutions to advance and become leaders in the field of green building and sustainability, while encouraging them to commit to climate neutrality through the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment.

Based on the success of this initiative, Second Nature has recently launched a new phase of its capacity building work. This comprehensive "Education for Sustainability Innovation Program" promotes innovation and leadership among financially strained and minority-serving colleges and universities.

The Education for Sustainability Innovation Program will help ensure that graduates are prepared to lead the changes needed to overcome the interrelated social, environmental and economic challenges of the 21st century by driving innovative approaches to Education for Sustainability (EfS).

The Campus Green Builder offers the following information and opportunities for networking:

• Links to green building resource websites as well as green building experts’ directories.


• Case Studies to serve as models and learning resources regarding campus green building at under-resourced colleges and universities.


• Announcements of green building and campus sustainability events, conferences, workshops, webinars, courses, meetings, summits, etc.


• Free user accounts in which individuals can save their favorite resources.


• Campus Green Builder Blog for peer-to-peer networking.


• Information on other Advancing Green Building activities and projects.

for more information click here.

© 2011, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

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Fiske's Top 10 Colleges for Environmental Education

Here is a list of the top environmental colleges from the 2011 Fiske Guide to Colleges. This guide is published by former New York Times Education Editor Edward Fiske whose reviews include details on campus life and academics.

Colby College – Located in picturesque small-town Maine, Colby provides a gorgeous, and rigorous, setting to study the environment.

College of the Atlantic (COA) – This small school in Bar Harbor, Maine, is big on the environment. This school makes all the lists of the best green schools due to the fact that it offers one major: human ecology, which is defined as the study of our species' relationship to the planet. COA was the first US college to go carbon neutral in 2007, it is also a leader in green building land conservation.

University of California, Davis - This research-driven campus is well known for its innovations in the environmental, agricultural and biological sciences, including in green transportation and alternative energy. The school is working with ten other campuses belonging to the University of California to increase the use of low- and zero-emission vehicles by 50 percent and generate 10 megawatts of renewable energy by 2014. The schools in the University of California network are also striving to achieve zero waste and carbon neutrality by 2020.

University of Colorado at Boulder – This school is a well known for its green business and advocacy, and the surrounding landscape is a green laboratory with one of the most environmentally aware student bodies.

Dartmouth College – New Hampshire's Dartmouth has been leading in environmental studies for years.

Eckerd College – This small liberal arts school near St. Petersburg, Florida, is located on the Gulf Coast where students study the biodiverse, and imperiled, Gulf.

The Evergreen State College – This school is located in Olympia, Washington, and has a 1,000-acre campus that is 80% covered in woods, forest and beach. Evergreen has an organic farm and a sustainable dining hall is called "The Greenery." More than one third of the food sold there is organic or local, and the school buys 100% clean power. It is also a leader in green building and electric vehicles.

University of North Carolina at Asheville – Located in the North Carolina mountains, this campus has a progressive atmosphere and green amenities.

Tulane University – This school is located in the New Orleans area and it is a leader in academic. Post Katrina the school increased its green commitments.

University of Washington – This Seattle based school is a green leader in the Northwest, the Seattle-based school boasts a green cafeterias as well as sustainability focused academics.

© 2011, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

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The Green Market's Green Schools Series

Each year since 2010 The Green Market Oracle has published an annual series of posts on various aspects of green schools. To see GMO's green school posts in 2016 click here. To see a comprehensive summary of green school information and resources (2010 - 2015) click here.  The following installment was the first and it was compiled over the course of late summer and early fall 2010. It includes detailed reports on sustainable academics and green school buildings.

Here are the 60 posts that comprise the 2010 edition:

Green Student Resources

Green Education Options
Environmental Toolkit
Green School Buildings

The Growth of Green Education

Green School Census
Green Memes and Schools
Green Schools are Bridging the Knowledge Gap
Sustainable Education is Key to Accessing the Green Economy
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Green Masters Degrees

Leading the Green Job Market with a Sustainable MBA
The University of Oregon's MBA and Green Chemistry
Marylhurst's MBA in Sustainable Business
MODUL University's Sustainable MSc

Green Doctorate Degrees

UBC`s PhD in Resource Management and Environmental Studies
Prescott College`s Ph.D in Sustainability
PhD in Innovation and Governance for Sustainable Development
Columbia University's PhD in Sustainable Development
Walden University's PhD in Sustainability Online Degree

Green Undergraduate Degrees and Classes

Commonground University's Online Environmental Classes
West Michigan's Green Academic Offerings
Ferrum College's Climate Research Opportunities
Arizona State University's Sustainable Business Curriculum
Arizona State University and Green Supply Chains
Penn State's Online B.A. in Energy and Sustainability Policy
IMD and WWF's Sustainable Business Program
WWF's One Planet Leaders Program
CleanEdison LEED Building and Design Courses
Ecovillages Environmental Study Program
The Green Business League Sustainability Officer Training

Greenest Schools

Sierra's Top 100 Cool Schools
The Princeton Review Green Colleges Honor Role 2010
America`s Greenest School Contest 2010

Primary and Secondary Schools

NYC Public School's Green Initiatives
LAUSD Green School Initiatives
Da Vinci Arts Middle School in Portland

Green Schools in China and Asia

China’s Green School Project
The University of Hong Kong's Sustainable Development
China Europe International Business School's Green Campus
Sustainable Education at South China Normal University
International Community Schools China on Green Buildings
Green School in India: Shoolini University
The Green School In Bali

Green School Buildings

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The Implications of the Growth of Green Buildings
Top 10 Green Building Trends for 2010
CleanEdison Building and Design Courses
The Green Building Focus Conference and Expo
2010 Green Schools Summit Workshop & Conference
Environmental Revolution: Building and Operations
New York's Leed Certified Universities

Sustainability Officers

The Growth of Green School Sustainability Officers
AASHE Survey of Sustainability Positions in Higher Education
How to Become a Sustainability Officer

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