Green Schools

Join us on April 19, 2012 to learn more about Green Schools in Iowa!
http://usgbciowagreenschoolsattendee-eorg.eventbrite.com/

Read more about the ways Green Schools benefit people, prosperity, and the planet in the Local Leaders in Sustainability Special Report from Sundance: A National Action Plan forGreening America's Schools at http://www.centerforgreenschools.org/guides.aspx

We can help you Green your school!

• Iowa USGBC members are your local Green School experts, just click on membership in the menu at the top of this page
• The USGBC Center for Green Schools web site at http://www.centerforgreenschools.org/why-green-schools.aspx is a source of great information on the benefits of Green Schools and tips on how to build leadership to promote Green Schools in your community
  

New Green Schools
If you are building a new school, you have a once in a lifetime opportunity to create a structure that will save taxpayers money and provide a safe, nurturing place to work, learn, and play. The U. S. Green Building Council has developed materials to help you make Green choices for location, design, and building materials. These materials are freely available at http://www.usgbc.org/DisplayPage.aspx?CMSPageID=1586.

We hope you will choose to register your new school as a LEED certified building. It sends a message to your students, staff, and community that you have provided a high performance building that will lead to high performing teachers and students!

"Old" Schools Can Be Green, Too!
Welcome to our Iowa Green Schools page! Greening a school can be done in five steps:

1. Assess your current shade of green with a Green Schools audit.
2. Evaluate your audit results by looking for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.
3. Choose an area of focus, and create an action plan that includes who will be responsible for each step, and when it will be accomplished.
4. Implement your action plan, and inform everyone in your school and community about it!
5. Reassess with another Green Schools audit and celebrate your accomplishments with your community.
   

How Green is my school? How do I Green my school?
There are many Green School audit materials available. One of the simplest is from Green School Initiative. Simply go to http://greenschools.net/ and click on "Take the Quiz" on the bottom left corner of the page. This ten question audit provides immediate feedback with a numerical score. It can be the basis of either an action plan, or indicate areas that you want to audit more closely.

If you choose to do a more in depth audit, consider using the materials at the sites listed below. Many of these organizations also provide helpful materials to develop action plans.

• Dubuque Green Vision Education Program is explained at http://www.dmaswa.org/services_education.cfm
  Scroll down the page to find the GVE Program Guidelines and Assessment materials.
  
  
• National Wildlife Federation http://www.nwf.org/Global-Warming/School-Solutions/Eco-Schools-USA/Become-an-Eco-School.aspx Compare their Seven Steps to the five listed above. Click on the eight different icons for audit and action plan information.
  
  
• Washington Green Schools uses 5 categories. http://www.wagreenschools.org/1178/program-info.html
  Click on each category to find assessment guides and action lists.
  
  
• Wisconsin Green & Healthy Schools uses 10 different categories.
  Discovery and Inventory information is at http://dnr.wi.gov/org/caer/ce/greenschools/discInv.htm
  Action & Implementation are at http://dnr.wi.gov/org/caer/ce/greenschools/actImp.htm
  

You must register to use the Project Learning Tree materials, but they are free. Start at http://pltgreenschools.org/ to obtain these excellent materials.

Click here for videos to learn more about energy efficiency: www.uni.edu/free-ceee/school-energy-efficiency

• Landscaping to Save Energy with Meredith Borchardt of Trees Forever
• Iowa Schools for Energy Efficiency with Mary Schon of Krell Energy Efficiency
• Retro-Commissioning to Save Energy with Garry Caldbeck of Systemworks
• Iowa School Energy Challenge with Jeff Beneke of UNI-CEEE
• Bettendorf School Energy Efficiency with Bettendorf administrators, students, & staff
  

Contact us for more information:
Committee Co-Chairs:
Michelle Huggins
mhuggins@shive-hattery.com
515.223.8104

Pat Higby
319-273-6012
higby@uni.edu

Committee members:
Rachael Waggoner Jennifer Voorhees

Coming Soon! Inspirational Iowa Green Schools
Dubuque
Des Moines
Iowa City