Green Schools Guide

The NYC School Construction Authority (SCA) and Department of Education (DOE) have released their NYC Green Schools Guide and Rating System, a set of green building guidelines that will be used to guide the sustainable design, construction, and operation of new and renovated schools. The rating system is designed to comply with Local Law 86 of 2005 (LL86/05: New York City’s Green Building Law). This law established a set of demanding sustainable standards for public design and construction projects, and makes New York City one of the first and largest school districts in the nation to have sustainable guidelines required by law.

In the introduction to the report, the SCA and DOE outline some of the incentives and benefits of these guidelines:

Sustainable school design and operation provides many benefits to students, school staff and the city as a whole. Sustainable schools:
• Conserve energy
• Reduce operating costs
• Promote a healthy environment
• Teach environmental responsibility
• Demonstrate commitment to sustainability

The NYC Green Schools Guide and Rating System is based on the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED Green Building Rating System, but also includes enhancements beyond LEED based on best practices for schools adopted from the Collaborative for High Performing Schools (CHPS) rating systems developed by the states of Washington, Massachusetts, and New York, and also on SCA best practices.

As illustrated by the table above, the SCA has expanded and placed great emphasis on the Indoor Enviornmental Quality section ofthe NYC Green Schools Guide. This emphasis is a response to concerns about the high rates of asthma among NYC school children and current concerns about the health of students and staff. Over one third of the credits in the guide are devoted to indoor environmental quality. IEQ improvements include:

• Natural day lighting, views, and glare control measures
• Indirect artificial lighting and controls
• Improved acoustic performance
• Thermal comfort control
• Improved air filtration
• Reduced levels of indoor air contaminants