GREEN SCHOOLS DON'T MAKE THE GRADE

ncpa.org ^ | August 5, 2008

[InvisibleChurch]

Before Congress spends billions to build public schools that meet "green" environmental standards, it should review Washington state's experience, which shows that green buildings have higher than expected costs, and the energy savings and other projected benefits are either small or nonexistent, says Todd Myers, director of the Center for the Environment at the Washington Policy Center and an National Center for Policy Analysis E-Team adjunct scholar.

Several pilot schools in the Olympia, Northshore and Spokane school districts were created to test the effectiveness of green building strategies. By the summer of 2007, all but one of these schools had been open for at least one year and data were available to compare their performance with conventional schools recently built in the same districts. The results are clear:

In no case was the green school the most energy-efficient in the district. In some cases the green schools were more efficient than the most recently built nongreen school, but the difference between them was often very small. In no case were the energy costs for a green school 30 percent less than at comparable schools as supporters had projected. Outside the pilot districts, energy costs at three green schools were at least 25 percent higher than the most-efficient nongreen school in the same district. Green schools were expected to reduce absenteeism, but the numbers reflect a different result. Many districts do not track absences for more than one year, and data were only available for three districts with green schools:

In Spokane, where there are three new green schools, the average absence rate per student is slightly higher than the rate for the district as a whole. In both the Northshore and Lake Washington school districts attendance rates are very similar. In all cases, however, there are wide variations among schools, indicating that other factors had a more significant impact than the design of the school building. Source: Todd Myers, "Green Schools Don't Make the Grade," National Center for Policy Analysis, Brief Analysis 622, August 5, 2008.

For text:

http://www.ncpa.org/pub/ba/ba622/

For more on Urban Land Use:

http://eteam.ncpa.org/issues/?c=urban-land-use

For more on Environment Issues:

http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?Article_Category=31

[<1/1,000,000th%]

They can just re-paint them. ;)

[EyeGuy]

The entire Green Movement is similar to the condescending “socially concious investing” philosophy. They represent nothing but platitudes, and an opportunity for posturing and the exhibition of more “sophisticated, enlightened” thinking by our progressive, liberal betters

Both environmental responsibility and “social conciousness’ are fully addressed by sound and efficienct business practices and the unrelenting rigors of the marketplace.

[sionnsar]

What is interesting about this is that Western Washington is one of the areas mostly likely to be conducive to green schools’ energy efficiency, given the mild climate that permits design decisions just not possible elsewhere.

[TMD]

At my sons high school, they spent a gazillion $$$ on energy efficient science and agricultural buildings. According to my sons, they are cold in the winter and hot in the spring/summer, fans go on at random times and emit high pitched noises that the teachers can’t hear but the students find distracting. But at least everyone can feel good about saving the planet......

I just love to see my tax $$$ at work.