Green Building Series: Green Schools

The only way the green building movement will have a long term and long lasting impact is if the next generation buys into the movement. Both Kentucky and Ohio have taken an active role in helping see that that the next generation buys into the movement by educating students on the benefits of going green by implementing green school programs.

The Kentucky Green and Healthy Schools (KGHS) Program recently celebrated its first anniversary by being one of six national programs that was awarded the inaugural Excellence in Green Building Curriculum Recognition Awards by the U.S. Green Building Council (“USGBC”). A Kentucky Green and Healthy School combines learning opportunities, green building performance guidelines and outdoor educational areas that collectively support students and the community in learning how to make the school and community more environmentally healthy. Fifty-eight schools in Kentucky have already enrolled in the KGHS Program in its first year. The Kentucky Pollution Prevention Center, which is located in the J.B. Speed School of Engineering at the University of Louisville has recently partnered with the state’s school district to help them reduce energy costs as well.

Ohio also started a green building initiative in 2007 when the Ohio School Facilities Commission has adopted the LEED® for Schools Green Building Rating System™ as part of its school design standards. The USGBC is the third party that determines whether a school satisfies this criteria. Ohio schools are encouraged to meet the lofty LEED for Schools Gold certification level. As a result, Ohio has had fewer schools become green schools then Kentucky, but those that have, have buildings that have meet a much higher green threshold than those in Kentucky.

This point of this post is not to say either the Kentucky or Ohio approach will prove more effective over time, but to instead congratulate the administrators in both Kentucky and Ohio for their forward looking policies in the greening of education.

Geoff White is a Senior Associate in the Commercial Transactions and Real Estate Group at Frost Brown Todd, which has a Resource Conservation Committee that is helping it go green. Mr. White is licensed to practice law in Kentucky and Ohio and is a member of the Kentucky Chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council. Learn more about Geoff White, click on link above.

Posted by: Geoffrey M. White