Message #117 From:
TheMachine Date: April 13, 2009 01:50:46 PM
Public Schools Getting Green Tested- Could Nansulate play a role here?
NEW YORK—Public schools in New York City are poised to green up as
officials announce a plan to analyze energy efficiency of the
district's 1,260 school buildings.
Schools Chancellor Joel I.
Klein and the director of the Mayor's Office of Long Term Planning and
Sustainability, Rohit T. Aggarwala, announced Thursday that the
Department of Education (DOE) has signed New York City's schools on to
the Green Schools Alliance program—the first school district in the
country to join.
The effort is part of the City's overall
efforts to achieve its PlaNYC target of reducing municipal government
energy consumption and carbon emissions by 30 percent by 2017. Green
Schools Alliance, a nonprofit initiative committed to promoting energy
efficiency, resource conservation and environmental awareness and
responsibility in schools. Through the Green Schools Alliance, schools
share experiences and expertise to lower their energy consumption and
carbon footprint.
Schools will be part of a rating system that
puts indoor environment quality at the top for points. The site of the
school is included in the rating, along with water, energy, and
materials. Additional credits will be given for sustainable choices
such as low-emitting furniture, storm water set-up, daylight, and roof
quality.
A process called benchmarking will be the first step.
Benchmarking gives a detailed understanding of the efficiency of each
building, and helps the Department of Education target efficiency
efforts where they will have the greatest impact.
"This
project to benchmark our buildings represents our largest commitment
yet to reduce energy consumption in our schools," said Chancellor
Klein. "As a result of this project, our schools will be more
efficient—and our environment will be cleaner. This is important work
for our City, and it's a powerful lesson for our students about the
importance of sustainability."
"If you can't measure it, you
can't manage it," said Rohit Aggarwala, director of the Mayor's Office
of Long Term Planning and Sustainability. "The Department of
Education's benchmarking of 1,260 school buildings will enable us to
make decisions as to which measures we should implement to reduce our
City's greenhouse gases and save money on our energy bills. It also
demonstrates that benchmarking is an easy process that yields important
information for any kind of building."
Sustainability director
Aggarwala and Chancellor Klein were joined at the DOE headquarters in
the Tweed Courthouse in Manhattan by Schools Deputy Chancellor Kathleen
Grimm and Division of School Facilities (DSF) chief executive John
Shea, GSA founder and president Peg Watson, Department of Citywide
Administrative Services Commissioner Martha K. Hirst, School
Construction Authority vice president for architecture and engineering
E. Bruce Barrett and representatives from community groups that support
conservation.
"The partnership between the City and the Green
Schools Alliance represents our priority of making sustainability a
mainstay in our schools," said Schools Deputy Chancellor Grimm. "This
new relationship will help our schools become more energy efficient."
"We now have the tools to target effective energy saving measures in our schools," said DSF executive director John Shea.
"It is appropriate and exciting that New York City, the city where the
Green Schools Alliance (GSA) was first launched, has become the first
public school district to join the GSA as Charter Members," GSA founder
and president Peg Watson said. "The GSA was created 'by schools for
schools' to share energy and sustainability best practices, generate
momentum and maximize success."
The New York City Department
of Citywide Administrative Services coordinates the City's energy
conservation efforts and provided energy usage data from school
buildings for the benchmarking initiative. "I am thrilled to be working
so closely with the Department of Education in this important effort to
achieve energy savings," said DCAS Commissioner Martha K. Hirst. "In
the next two years, the DCAS Office of Energy Conservation will oversee
projects in more than 50 schools that will reduce energy use by
installing more efficient lighting. There's no better way to show young
people that there will be a greener, greater New York in their future." http://www.theepochtimes.com/n2/content/view/15107/
