The Alliance's K-12 and higher education programs empower students to change the culture of their academic environment to one that embraces energy efficiency. Students lead no-cost behavior changes, building retrofits, events on green careers, and other initiatives that save energy within and beyond their school building. They also contribute to integrated demand side management where applicable. When students are literate in energy efficiency, they become the next generation energy efficiency leaders – not only in their schools, but also in their homes and communities.

From the Alliance to Save Energy

BetterBricks helps you and your organization reap the bottom line benefits of energy management. An initiative of the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance, BetterBricks is supported by local electric utilities.

The Campus Environmental Resource Center--CampusERC--is intended to be a great library of resources to support campus environmental performance improvement. Developed collaboratively by NACUBO, C2E2, CSHEMA, APPA and the EPA, the primary audience is staff, administrators or faculty who are looking for resources to better understand environmental regulations, find relevant contacts, seek model practices, track news or build and manage better environmental programs.

Older schools in this district were built with few windows, and students complained they felt "claustrophobic." Based on these comments, as well as concerns about energy efficiency, the school board decided that natural light was essential to the learning experience. In the early 1980s they directed architects to maximize natural lighting in all new buildings. Numerous documents on lighting, skylighting andn design considerations are available from this location.

Part of the U.S. Green Building Council, this center helps schools become more sustainable. Also provides information about LEED for schools.

"Change the World, Start with ENERGY STAR" is a national campaign encouraging all Americans to join with millions of others and take small, individual steps that make a big difference in the fight against global warming.

CHPS has developed and maintains a six-volume technical best practices manual for high performance schools. The manual covers planning, design, high performance benchmarks, maintenance and operations, commissioning and relocatable classrooms in high performance schools. The manual was developed through a consensus process with the assistance of school officials, state agencies, industry representatives and design professionals. CHPS periodically updates each volume of the manual.

The New York State Education Department (NYSED) published the New York High Performance Schools Guidelines (NY-CHPS 1.1) in 2007 as a voluntary Appendix to the NYSED Manual of Planning Standards. NY-CHPS adopts core CHPS Criteria and adds: Operations and Maintenance requirements and options, expanded Indoor Environmental Quality requirements and options, and Materials durability requirements based on life-cycle costs. NY-CHPS 1.2 (2009) references a more stringent NY Energy Conservation Construction Code and applicability to existing buildings.

Suggestions for designing rooms and lighting to optimize learning. General classroom and computer room layouts, as well as corridor layouts and lighting fixture specifications are provided.

The goal of Clean School Bus USA is to reduce both children's exposure to diesel exhaust and the amount of air pollution created by diesel school buses.

The mission of the Collaborative for High Performance Schools is to facilitate the design, construction and operation of high performance schools: environments that are not only energy and resource efficient, but also healthy, comfortable, well lit, and containing the amenities for a quality education.

ENERGY STAR helps restaurants and facilities with commercial kitchens (e.g., school cafeterias) improve the performance of their facilities and equipment while reducing energy costs.

The energy employees typically use to travel to and from an average office building during a given time period--its transportation energy intensity--can be a third to twice the energy used to run the building during the same time period. Hence attention to the total ecological footprint of a building must consider more than just the energy efficiency of the building...

Contains updated information on electric power generation/use.

Energy designs included in this 88-page document includes case studies as well as site designs, daylighting, energy-effcicient shells, lighting, ventilation systems, water conservation, transportation and much more.

Estabishing a comprehensive energy management program, getting started with fact sheets, evaluating energy performance and much more will prove helpful for school administrators.

Portfolio Manager is an interactive energy management tool that allows you to track and assess energy and water consumption across your entire portfolio of buildings in a secure online environment. Whether you own, manage, or hold properties for investment, Portfolio Manager can help you set investment priorities, identify under-performing buildings, verify efficiency improvements, and receive EPA recognition for superior energy performance.

Bi-monthly magazine covering the green building industry.

This guide focuses on resources for teaching K-12 students about the environmental effects of pollution and waste and strategies for improving the environment. It also includes some industrial chemistry resources. This guide includes links to classroom activities, background and policy information, standards, and reference sources that teachers can use to develop their own environmental education lesson plans

The Clean Energy-Environment Guide to Action identifies and describes 16 clean energy policies and strategies that states have used to meet their clean energy objectives. It describes how states are successfully expanding the role of clean energy in the U.S. energy system and shares the experience and lessons learned from successful state clean energy policies.

The entire guide is available as a PDF (404 pages) or as individual chapters.

This is a comprehensive list of easy to understand energy-related terms.

The Go Green Initiative is a simple, comprehensive program designed to create a culture of environmental responsibility on school campuses across the nation.

Written by Gregory Kats, this report is intended to answer this fundamental question: how much more do green schools cost, and is greening schools cost effective? This report documents the financial costs and benefits of green schools compared to conventional schools. This national review of 30 green schools demonstrates that green schools cost less than 2% more than conventional schools - or about $3 per square foot ($3/ft2) - but provide financial benefits that are 20 times as large...

This glossary provides definitions of a number of important terms associated with power generation technologies and their environmental impacts, including definitions of specific pollutants, technologies, and the key terms related to the electric power marketplace.

Evidence has accumulated that shows that the quality of indoor environments can affect the health and productivity of adults and children. One consequence is that a movement has emerged to promote the design of schools that have fewer adverse environmental effects. To examine the potential of such design for improving education, several private organizations asked the National Research Council (NRC) to review and assess the health and productivity benefits of green schools.

Healthy Schools Campaign advocates for policies and practices that allow all students, teachers and staff to learn and work in a healthy school environment.

Information to help with the determination if mandatory energy conservation standards are technologically feasible and economically justified, and would result in significant energy savings.

The Illinois Sustainable Schools Compact program launched on January 31, 2008 features best practices that K-12 schools can voluntarily pursue to achieve greater environmental sustainability. Schools as well as districts can check off up to 12 practices to participate, including things on the list the school or district is already doing.

A list of schools in Illinois that have signed the Illinois Sustainable Schools Compact. Short descriptions are available for the first schools that signed the Compact.

Includes case studies in which indoor air quality issues were addressed in the design, construction or renovation of a school facility.

Describes different lamp technologies.

This report describes how to control the costs of green building projects by summarizing the research done on that topic for the Alameda County Waste Management Authority (ACWMA), the California State and Consumer Services Agency (SCSA), California's Sustainable Building Task Force, and the California Department of General Services (DGS). (PDF Format; Length: 88 pages)

This Web site is intended to increase awareness, provide resource tools, information to users, and to encourage the recycling of all mercury-containing light bulbs, including compact fluorescent light bulbs (CFLs) after they burn out.

The report suggests that high schools should undergo a careful individualized space before planning begins.

This document looks at some of the myths and misconceptions about energy in schools, and provides the facts that can help school districts make smart energy choices.

Created in 1997 by the U.S. Department of Education, the National Clearinghouse for Educational Facilities (NCEF) provides information on planning, designing, funding, building, improving, and maintaining safe, healthy, high performance schools. The NCEF site provides extensive resource lists on various topics, which are grouped into the following broad categories: Preplanning, Planning, Design, School Spaces, School Grounds, Case Studies, Safe Schools, Healthy Schools, High Performance Schools

The mission of the National Energy Education Development Project is to promote an energy conscious and educated society by creating effective networks of students, educators, business, government and community leaders to design and deliver objective, multi-sided energy education programs.

NEED provides curriculum correlations to the National Science Education Standards, and provides projects, activities, as well as energy-related lessons (complete with student and teacher guides) on a wide range of topics.

Publications from the National Institute of Building Sciences on historic school preservation.

Portable -- or "relocatable" -- classrooms have been a feature of many school districts for years. From a district's perspective, the two advantages of portable classrooms are low initial cost and short time between specification and occupancy. They are intended to provide flexibility to school districts, enabling quick response to demographic changes and providing the ability to be moved from one school to another as demographics change.

The Portfolio Manager is an interactive energy management tool that can track and assess energy and water consumption across an entire portfolio of buildings in a secure online environment.

Energy efficiency is the easiest, most cost effective way to reduce energy consumption, yet remains a challenge for many school districts. PowerSave Schools reduce consumption an average of 5-15% in one year through no-cost operations and behavior changes! Through the PowerSave Schools program students are empowered to grow as leaders, apply academic knowledge to solve the real-world challenge of increasing utility bills, and move their schools and communities toward a greener future with energy efficiency practices and measurable energy savings.

Includes information on the school construction grant program for constructing and renovating schools in Illinois.

New school designs includes case studies and examples of new schools. Challenges as well as designs are listed. The gallery offers an option to explore all or you can select the appropriate grade level and the state.

The Wisconsin K-12 Energy Education Program (KEEP) created a School Energy Policy and Education Plan template to help school communities develop an energy plan that addresses not only energy management policies, but also incorporates energy education into the curriculum school-wide.

Prepared by Princeton Energy Resource International, HPowell Energy Associates and the Alliance to Save Energy, this guidebook is designed for K-12 school system business officials and facilities managers. It is designed to meet the specific needs of school district staff for integrating energy efficiency into school building operation and maintenance by not only providing technical information, but also organizational information on barriers, challenges, and the necessary steps required to...

The Smart Energy Design Assistance Center (SEDAC) is designed to encourage for-profit small business owners, design professionals, and building contractors to incorporate renewable energy systems and energy conservation practices. SEDAC is sponsored by the Illinois Department of Community and Economic Opportunity and is managed by the School of Architecture at the University of Illinois and the 360 Energy Group.

EPA's Target Finder tool helps architects and building owners set aggressive, realistic energy targets and rate a building design's estimated energy use.

This reference guide includes links to both popular materials and more technical information. It is not an exhaustive list and it includes information that will help you continue research at your local library. Includes news; books and periodicals; products and services; associations and meetings; newsgroups and e-mail lists; and web sites. Pages or the entire guide may be printed for future reference and convenience. Developed and maintained by ISTC Librarian/GLRPPR Help Desk Laura Barnes