ATLANTA – U.S. House Resolution, HR 2187, the 21st Century Green High Performing Public School Facilities Act, is presently being considered by the U.S. Senate’s Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions.
This resolution would boost national efforts to make U.S. public schools greener, healthier and safer, and would direct more than $6 billion to school renovation and modernization projects. If this bill becomes law, school districts would be assured of quickly receiving funds for improving schools’ energy efficiency, teaching and learning environments, and health and safety.
To assist school districts and planners in achieving high-performance schools, Air Quality Sciences has published a new white paper, Green High-Performance Schools: “Poster Child” for Sustainable Building, that provides a comprehensive overview of the positive impacts sustainable schools have on student learning, including better comprehension, test scores, student health and productivity, plus, over-all improved cost efficiency.
“Despite well-documented benefits of high-performance schools, there is still reluctance to employ green building principles,” said Tony Worthan, president and COO of Air Quality Sciences Inc. “Most of this results from a lack of understanding and skepticism, fueled by rampant “green washing.” School administrators and decision makers are often uncertain of the effective and verified pathways for achieving environmental, economic and healthy indoor air quality gains. Armed with the right information and knowledge, they can make the right choices. This leads to the creation of sustainable schools with enhanced indoor air quality which is protective of the health of the students and staff.”
The new white paper makes the case that indoor air quality and energy conservation are not competitive goals, but actually complement each other. It also reviews the primary green building schools programs, such as GREENGUARD Children and Schools Certification, LEED for Schools, the Collaborative for High Performance Schools and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Tools for Schools.
Green, High-Performance Schools: “Poster Child” for Sustainable Building, is available free of charge at AQS Indoor Air Quality Resource Center.