In gatherings facilitated by Shelburne Farms Institute for Sustainable Schools staff, fellows have the chance to connect, collaborate, and support each other; to draw inspiration from invited speakers, ranging from artists to climate scientists; and to have dedicated time to work on their own projects. Participants find the program to be…

In the New England region, where temperatures range from below 0 to over 100 degrees, heating and cooling can present a major opportunity to improve sustainability statistics of a campus. Overt changes such as improving windows come to mind, but recent advancements in boiler technology and strategies for working with the heat of the sun and the…

Reducing school district energy expenditures has become a universal goal, and new technologies have brought greater energy efficiencies to the school environment. In Part 1 of this two-part series, the author discussed the steps required to establish an energy conservation and management program with an emphasis on lighting. In this article, he…

Building owners are caught between two powerful forces--the need to lower energy costs and the need to meet or exceed outdoor air ventilation regulations for occupant health and comfort. Large amounts of energy are wasted each day from commercial, institutional, and government building sites as heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC)…

Self-declared energy and carbon reduction goals on the part of progressive colleges and universities have driven ground source geothermal space heating and cooling systems into rapid evolution, as part of long-term climate action planning efforts. The period of single-building or single-well solutions is quickly being eclipsed by highly engineered…

A 2008 study by the management-consulting firm McKinsey & Co. projected that the world's data centers would surpass the airline industry in greenhouse gas emissions by 2020. Certainly adding to those emissions are K-12 districts, whose data centers hold the equipment that serves as the backbone for an ever-growing number of computing initiatives.…

This article describes how two institutions in the U.S. Southwest--Albuquerque Academy in New Mexico and Pima Community College (PCC) in Arizona--have implemented new energy projects on their campuses. Albuquerque Academy's one-megawatt DC photovoltaic solar array is one of the largest secondary schools projects to date in the United States. The…

Colleges and universities have been among the leaders nationwide in adopting green initiatives, partly due to their demographics, but also because they are facing their own budget pressures. Virtualization has become the poster child of many schools' efforts, because it provides significant bang for the buck. However, more and more higher…

Education facilities managers are faced with a daunting set of challenges: They must find new ways to reduce energy consumption and carry out greener energy policies. HVAC typically accounts for more than 30% of a building's electricity costs, so there is a clear incentive to eliminate unnecessary heating and cooling of unoccupied rooms. With more…

Many organizations, including colleges and universities, are moving to address the threat of climate change by reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from their operations. For example, the rapid growth of participation in the Presidents Climate Commitment (PCC) now means that more than 600 colleges and universities have pledged to develop plans…

Daylighting a space is both an art and a science. The impact of daylight can make a building's design come to life. Daylighting can be carried out skillfully, or it can be too casually considered or totally misunderstood. Bad daylighting is devastating to a space and costly to fix. Today, in this era of sustainable design, daylighting is given…

In this article, the author discusses the role of window films in enhancing indoor air quality in schools. Historically, window film has been used to reduce temperatures in buildings prone to overheating. Too much solar energy entering through windows makes occupants uncomfortable and air conditioning more costly. Film has been a simple solution…

States the foundations of the theory of global warming. Describes methodologies used to measure the changes in the atmosphere. Discusses steps currently being taken in the United States and the world to slow the warming trend. Recognizes many sources for the warming and the possible effects on the earth. (MVL)