Two years ago, the Washington State Legislature passed a law requiring new schools to meet "High Performance Building Standards," commonly known as "green" building standards. Supporters make a range of claims about the benefits of these schools. The fact checking on those claims, however, is often non-existent.
For instance, the following claim was made by Rachael Jamison, the green-building program coordinator for the state Department of Ecology in an article in the Olympian.
"In addition to contributing to a healthier learning environment, high-performance schools are expected to reduce energy costs. A school in Spokane built in compliance with the protocol estimates its annual energy savings at about $40,000 a year."
This claim was also backed up by Patricia Jatczak, the High Performance School Building Program Manager in the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction.
A quick fact check shows that the number is not only wrong, but isn't even reasonable. The three elementary schools using the green building standards in Spokane have average annual energy costs of about $44,000 a year each. Schools would have to be reducing their energy costs by 90% a year.
Taking a closer look shows that no schools are even close to saving that much. Based on a projection of improvement in utility (energy, water, garbage, etc.) costs per square foot, the best school, Lincoln Heights (pictured above), is saving approximately $9,000 per year versus the costs per square foot of the building it replaced. On the other hand, Lidgerwood Elementary, another green school, is spending more than $5,000 more in utility costs than it would have in the old building.
Finally, even with the savings from Lincoln Heights, it is unclear that the "green" elements have anything to do with the savings. In fact, the most energy efficient elementary school in the district is Browne Elementary, which is 13 percent more efficient than Lincoln Heights. It was built in 2001 but without the "green" building standards.
Two lessons:
- Legislators and the public should be highly skeptical of claims made about the benefits of "green" schools. Those claims often don't even meet the straight face test.
- Spokane should build more brown(e) schools.
We will be publishing a comprehensive examination of the successes and failures of the new "green" standards later this year.