American School & University
March 2010

By Lois Vitt Sale, AIA, LEED Faculty, Jay Womack, ASLA, LEED AP and Stella Nicolet, AIA, LEED AP

Many school officials have used green grants to expand their budgets for sustainable initiatives.

We all want to be green. We all want to design, build and manage healthful educational facilities that serve the community and the environment. The return on investment (ROI) of a green school usually exceeds that of a conventional school when including such factors as lower operating costs and better student performance.

However, the initial costs of creating a green school can be higher for state-of-the-art technologies such as geothermal heat pumps, high-performance lighting or solar panels, green roofs and permeable pavers. With school districts and private institutions already struggling to raise capital for improvements or new construction, few project budgets have the funds for high-performance elements.

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