Trane Sponsors CHPS for Second Year

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The Collaborative for High Performance Schools (CHPS) is a leading national movement to improve student performance and the entire educational experience by building the best possible schools, which means incorporating green building strategies.

Now, Trane, a leading global provider of indoor comfort systems and solutions is serving as the exclusive industry sponsor to CHPS for the second year in a row, and will focus on the movement’s Operations Report Card.

The Operations Report Card is part of CHPS, which benchmarks and improves the performance of school buildings. Trane will also work to expand its reach of the CHPS Criteria, which focuses on new school construction and major modernizations.

“Trane is collaborating with CHPS to bring the Operations Report Card and CHPS Criteria to more districts and states so that more schools can achieve their goal of becoming high performance schools,” said Bill Orr, executive director of CHPS in a statement. “The solutions and methodology that Trane offers are closely aligned with the CHPS’ approach to high performance schools. Trane is not only a financial sponsor of CHPS, they are also an active collaborator and bring new tools and programs to schools across the United States.”

Currently there are 86 completed CHPS schools across America with another 300 schools underway in the U.S. seeking CHPS recognition.

Along with Trane there are over 225 organizations that are members of CHPS including utility companies, professional design and construction firms, product manufacturers, non-profit organizations, schools and school districts, and professional societies.

Trane is helping to support CHPS by including additional modules for the assessment of waste reduction and water use; better usability online and in the iPhone app, ORC Mobile; and a new look online and on the app. The Trane sponsorship will support a limited number of scholarships that will allow more schools to take advantage of this tool.

“We’re excited about this joint effort focused on improving student performance. Through the use of CHPS’ clear, metric driven building measurements, we’re able to leverage the 50 years of experience that Trane offers in delivering high performance buildings to create better schools,” said Rick Walter, Trane High Performance Building program leader.

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Gaining Green Support

The past few years have been lean ones for most school districts across the country, so it is no big surprise that construction activity has waned in many areas.

But take heart. The National Clearinghouse for Educational Facilities and McGraw Hill Construction predict that annual spending on new schools, additions and alterations will almost double to $70 billion by the middle of the decade. Many factors are driving this more optimistic outlook, including rising student enrollments and shifting demographics.

The biggest driver of this projected growth is the need to replace and repair America’s aging schools, most of which were built in the 1950s -1970s. The American Society of Civil Engineers assessed schools across the country and awarded them a “D” grade in its 2009 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure.

Society cannot build itself out of this predicament. But we can make sure that when we do build, we build high-performance, energy-efficient schools that meet the current and future needs of students, educators, communities and taxpayers.

District Makes the Case for Going Green

In 2006, Bryant Public Schools opened Bethel Middle School, the first LEED-certified school in the state of Arkansas. The school was so successful and well-received that the district has since built Hurricane Creek Elementary and began expanding Bryant High School, using LEED guidelines for both projects.

With enrollment expanding by about three percent per year, Bryant is one of the fastest-growing school districts in Arkansas. In 2003, voters passed a millage increase to fund seven construction projects, including two new schools.

“This was a wonderful opportunity to improve the learning environment for Bryant students,” says Richard Abernathy, superintendent at Bryant Public Schools. “We knew it made sense to follow LEED guidelines. But we also knew we had to first win the support of the school board, state legislators, community leaders and other constituents by showing how green schools benefit students, teachers and taxpayers.”

Improving Learning Environments

The district engaged an energy services company to examine the connection between green schools and an improved learning environment. Many studies show a connection between an improved indoor environment and student health, absenteeism and academic achievement.

Deborah Bruick, Bryant’s assistant superintendent, studied the effect green schools have on student attendance and achievement for her doctoral thesis. As part of her analysis, she compared the perceptions of teachers from LEED and non-LEED schools.

“All the teachers I surveyed believe that the classroom environment affects student learning and health,” she says. “Overwhelmingly, teachers from LEED schools perceive that their schools provide a better place for students to learn and teachers to teach. This is especially true when they are asked about the effects of indoor air quality and acoustics.”

Going green also makes economic sense. Studies show the initial cost of building a green school is about two percent higher than conventional construction. But savings in energy and operating costs repay the higher first costs many times over during the school’s typical operating life.

Building Support for LEED

Bruick said building a passionate cadre of supporters was essential to the success of the district’s efforts to build greener schools.

“Keeping the school board apprised of our findings was essential to gaining their support,” she says. “We met regularly with board members throughout the pre-construction phases of the process.”

Along with the architect, commissioning agent, energy service provider and other traditional members, Abernathy included school administrators and faculty on the project design team. He and Bruick met regularly with a wide range of stakeholder and community groups. The administrators also reached out to state legislators, including state Sen. Shane Broadway, for backing. They accompanied several legislators on a field trip to a LEED school in Texas to see the difference first-hand.

Performance Contracting Helps Capture Savings

“Because he understood what we were trying to accomplish, Sen. Broadway sponsored legislation to amend state law so that we could use a performance contract to fund new construction,” Abernathy says.

“A performance contract considers the entire lifecycle cost of a project,” Abernathy continued. “It’s not enough to just compare construction costs. You also need to take into account such factors as energy consumption, operating expenses and maintenance costs. It’s impossible to put a price tag on the value of creating a better learning environment for our kids.”

Bryant’s new schools use natural lighting and acoustical panels to control noise. Energy efficiency features include a state-of-the-art heating, air conditioning and ventilating system, automated building control system, and lighting and temperature sensors in each room. With these and other features, the two schools are expected to save taxpayers $19.8 million in energy and related costs over their projected 50-year lifespan.

Bill Harris is the vertical market leader responsible for Trane’s K-12 and higher education business segments.

Trane

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Trane Sponsors CHPS for Second Year

Gaining Green Support