Sustainable Schools Assessment
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In 2007, a two-year study of sustainable design and LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification for public school facilities in Hawaii was completed.The final report presents the economic, environmental and occupant benefits of green (environmentally superior) schools. The report has four components: 1) sustainable design for new elementary schools; 2) case study of Waipahu Intermediate School’s cafeteria; 3) case study of a classroom retrofit; and 4) implementation strategies.
Regarding new elementary schools, the State’s consultants found that LEED certification is definitely feasible. The study included detailed LCC (Life Cycle Cost) analyses and a survey of 12 existing sustainable schools. Upfront design costs should only increase by 2.5%, while operational costs should be reduced by 30% in comparison to a code-compliant conventional school. This represents a savings of approximately $60,000 per year. The study also concluded that daylighting is the most effective design strategy for energy conservation.
Waipahu Intermediate School’s cafeteria is the first LEED Certified project completed by the State of Hawaii Department of Education. The design delivers superior ventilation and thermal comfort while reducing operational costs by 15% over a conventional cafeteria.
The news is not quite so good for retrofitting existing classrooms, however. A hypothetical passive heat abatement retrofit of a classroom at Campbell High School indicates that the benefits are very limited due to existing building orientation and envelope design. The study concluded that air conditioning may be needed to improve thermal comfort for most classrooms.
The final segment of the study recommends that the Department of Education adopt strategies such as employing LCC analyses in the decision-making process and establishing a uniform process for monitoring and accounting for energy and water consumption.
- Report in Adobe Acrobat (PDF) format (116 pages; 3,053 kb):
Analysis of Economic, Environmental and Occupant Benefits of Sustainable Design and LEED Certification for State of Hawaii and Public School Facilities- Report in Microsoft Word (DOC) format (116 pages; 5,280 kb):
Analysis of Economic, Environmental and Occupant Benefits of Sustainable Design and LEED Certification for State of Hawaii and Public School Facilities- Excel spreadsheet (22 worksheets; 443 kb):
Calculations used for Analysis of Waipahu Intermediate School Cafeteria- Excel spreadsheet (23 worksheets; 502 kb):
Calculations used for Elementary School, Non-Air Conditioned- Excel spreadsheet (23 worksheets; 447 kb):
Calculations used for Elementary School, With Air Conditioning