Stream of Consciousness

By Rob Papke, Mt. Lebanon Council PTA Environmental Chair

5. A “Green” School = Healthy Students. The American Lung Association has found that American school children miss more than 14 million school days a year because of asthma exacerbated by poor indoor air quality. It costs nearly three times more to provide health care for a child with asthma than a child without asthma. In 2006 dollars this amounts equals $1,650 per child-costs borne not by the schools but by the students but by the student’s family. A recent Carnegie Mellon review of five separate studies found an average reduction of 38.5% in asthma in buildings with improved air quality.*
4. Mt. Lebanon as a Visionary Leader. Even though Pittsburgh is
   ranked #4 in the country for the number of L.E.E.D. certified buildings located here, there are no L.E.E.D. certified schools in South-Western PA. Just as the Fine Arts Building and our astro-turf field set the standard many years ago, a L.E.E.D. certified building will give Mt. Lebanon something that no other school district has had the vision to build.
3. State Reimbursement Incentives. The state offers reimbursement incentives to help defray the extra costs associated with L.E.E.D. certification.
2. The extra costs are much lower than one would assume. According to the Green Building Alliance, green school construction costs less than 2 percent more than a conventional school, about $3 per square foot.

…And the #1 reason to construct an L.E.E.D. certified High School is? the drum roll please?

1. There would be substantial savings to the taxpayers. On an average, green schools use 33 percent less energy than conventional schools. Lower energy and water costs, improved teacher retention and lower health costs directly save green schools about $12 per square foot, four times the additional cost of going green.*

If any one of these reasons is important to you, please email our school board members. More than ever, we need to let our school board members know that L.E.E.D. Certification is an important component to the up coming High School construction project. Thank you.

* For further information on Green School Design, check out Gregory Kats’ article Green School Design: Cost-Effective, Healthy and Better for Education. More information on green building in general can be found at the Western Pennsylvania Green Building Alliance.