Two Examples of School Lighting Efficiency Retrofits

Lighting efficiency retrofits are helping schools to cut their energy usage and significantly reduce costs.

As reviewed in Energy Manager Today, here are two examples of schools that saved both money and energy with lighting retrofits.

The Advance School District

The Advance School District in Advance, Mo., hired an outside resource for a series of energy-efficiency upgrades across all schools in the district.

The resource helped the district secure funding for the project through the Missouri Department of Natural Resources.

Based primarily on a lighting analysis and retrofit the school district was able to save almost $13,000 a year on its utility bill (a 20 percent savings).

New Water Quality Runoff Tool from the USDA

A new online tool gives farmers and ranchers a better understanding of the quality of water flowing off their fields and into waterways. The new tool is called the Water Quality Index for Agricultural Runoff (WQIag) and was developed by scientists at USDA’s Natural Resources Conservation Service.

Event - Developing a Campus Sustainability Living Lab

Developing a Campus Sustainability Living Lab will take place on June 7-9, 2013 at Portland State University, OR. This workshop will introduce systematic efforts to break through the current curricular and operational paradigms and form a new model for both education and sustainability action—the campus living lab. Participants will leave with: a plan and a set of actions/strategies for implementing a living lab at their campus; a deep understanding about the underlying theory and value proposition in implementing a sustainability living lab on campus; clear typology and definition for a living lab program and courses that increase sustainability education; a network of peers; and more.

Event - Smart and Sustainable Campuses Conference

The Smart and Sustainable Campuses Conference will take place on April 15-16, 2013 in Bethesda, MD. Colleges and universities are incubators of innovation, tackling the biggest challenges of society through creative means. The 2013 Smart and Sustainable Campuses Conference provides the setting to learn, share and explore how campuses are using their passion for innovation to develop technologies, infrastructure, programs and curricula that address the world's most pressing environmental and sustainability challenges.

Green Buildings of the Future at UC Irvine (Video)

Join Green Schools Designer Wendy Rogers as she interviews guests at the LPA Sustainable Office and Energy Showcase, in UC Irvine's University Research Park - LPA Irvine. The 15,000-square-foot expansion is tracking LEED Platinum certification from the U.S. Green Building Council - it's the next generation of collaborative, open office design.

Obama's Energy Efficiency Executive Order for Industry

On August 30th, 2012, President Obama signed an executive order focused on efficiency in industrial facilities. That order sets a national goal of 40 GW of new combined heat and power (CHP) by the end of 2020. As stated in the order, the industrial sector accounts for over 30 percent of all energy consumed in the US, and energy costs affect overall competitiveness. The goal is to increase investments to reduce energy use through more efficient manufacturing processes and facilities and the expanded use of combined heat and power (CHP).

The Federal Government will help to overcome barriers to investment in industrial energy efficiency. This includes encouraging private sector investment by setting goals and highlighting the benefits of investment, improving coordination at the Federal level, partnering with and supporting States, and identifying investment models beneficial to the multiple stakeholders involved.

The New School's Sustainability Initiatives (Video)

The New School is committed to becoming a more sustainable university - The New School is a university in New York City offering distinguished degree, certificate, and continuing education programs in art and design, liberal arts, management and policy, and the performing arts. (for more information click here) In order to reduce the institution's environmental footprint and carbon emissions, the university has established the following goals:

The Billion Dollar Green Challenge Financing Initiative

The Billion Dollar Green Challenge is designed to support new energy efficiency financing. The goal is to encourage colleges, universities and other nonprofits to invest a total of $1 billion in self-managed “green revolving funds.” This funding will be used to finance energy efficiency upgrades they are also intended to be a great investment. According to Greening The Bottom Line the median annual return on investment is 32 percent (a portion of the returns from these projects are reinvested in the fund and used for future green projects).

Green Schools and Community Colleges Summits & Expo

The Green Market Oracle is proud to once again be an outreach sponsor for Green Schools and Community College Summits and Expo which will take place from September 27-28, 2012. The Green California Schools Summit and the Green California Community Colleges Summit, will take place concurrently at the Pasadena Convention Center in Pasadena, California.

California’s community colleges are the largest system of higher education in the nation. Not only are they essential to California’s push to develop green jobs and green businesses, many are working to ensure that their facilities reflect best practices in green building, energy management and resource conservation. These programs offer students the possibility of hands-on exposure to new technologies and provide local communities with models of sustainability in practice.

Video: The UK's Green Deal

A short film explaining the importance of the UK's Green Deal. This innovative program from will help homeowners to make their homes more energy efficient. The Green Deal will radically reduce their home heating bills while substantially reducing the UK's emissions profile. It will also create jobs and regenerate the national economy.

Major Trends in Green Building for 2012

Claire Easley the senior editor at Builder recently published an article about Jerry Yudelson impressions for the green building industry in 2012. Yudelson has more than 25 years of work in sustainability, he has been a member of the U.S. Green Building Council’s board of directors, a LEED national faculty member, and is the co-founder and director of the Green Building Service consulting unit at Portland General Electric. Last year, Wired magazine dubbed him "the godfather of green."

Video: Plastic Bottle Greenhouse

This is a greenhouse built out of plastic bottles. You can purchase a little booklet online at blue rock station that shows you how to construct each phase of the greenhouse. It's a simple construction of rammed earth tires for the foundation and plastic bottles, with the north wall incorporating thermal mass.

© 2011, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

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Video: House Built With Plastic Bottles

Tomislav Radovanovic came up with idea of a plastic bottle house when he was teaching his students about building materials. This project started in 2001 and, with the support of his family, he managed to collect 14,000 plastic bottles. Mr. Radovanic continues to create masterpieces from plastic bottles.

© 2011, Richard Matthews. All rights reserved.

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The Green Market's Green School Series 2011

Each year The Green Market puts together a summary of information and resources on green schools. This series reflects the importance of the green schools movement to contribute to the growth of the global economy and the health of the planet.

Last year over 60 posts came together to create The Green Market's Green Schools Series 2010. This year there are a total of more than 70 posts in the series. In addition to the posts on sustainable education and green building, a new section on grants, programs and awards has been included for 2011.

The Green School's Bamboo Architecture

Bamboo is widely recognized as a sustainable building material because it is robust and fast growing. Environmentalists and designers John and Cynthia Hardy showcased bamboo in their Green School in Bali, Indonesia. The on campus buildings are constructed completely from sustainably-harvested bamboo and they are powered by renewable energy systems. Due to its sustainability, the Green School is on the short-list for the Aga Khan Awards for Architecture.

The Federal Government's Green Ribbon Schools

The Department of Education Green Ribbon Schools award celebrates K-12 schools that best exemplify America’s transition to a sustainable economy and demonstrate environmental literacy. The federal government's initiative will help ensure the vision of green schools for everyone within this generation. A total of 75 state and national organizations signed on in support of this program. The federal government initiative is a tremendous boon for students involved with the green schools movement.

A Green School is a High Performance School

Green schools are on the rise in America and around the world, but what exactly is a green school? According to Global Green USA, a green school, also known as a high performance school, is a community facility that is designed, built, renovated, operated, or reused in an ecological and resource-efficient manner. Green schools protect occupant health, provide a productive learning environment, connect students to the natural world, increase average daily attendance, reduce operating costs, improve teacher satisfaction and retention, and reduce overall impact to the environment.

Energy Efficiency: Obama's American Jobs Act and the Green Schools Program

President Obama's American Jobs Act, and programs like Green Schools, leverage efficiency initiatives to make America greener and stronger. In addition to being cost effective, energy efficiency is the quickest way of reducing electric power consumption.

Energy Efficiency with the Green Schools Program

The Alliance’s Green Schools Program helps students to reduce costs by reducing their school's energy consumption. With approximately $6 billion in energy costs each year, there is an enormous amount of possible savings.

Investing in Education is the Key to Developing the Green Economy

In President Obama's State of the Union Address, he spoke about how America can win the future by out-educating, out-innovating and out-building the rest of the world. The challenge of building the green economy is dependent on well educated students and this depends on government investment.