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Tech Collaborative, School Building Agency Push 'Green Schools'
By Jim O'Sullivan
STATE HOUSE NEWS SERVICE

STATE HOUSE, BOSTON, MAY 10, 2007 Two popular trends blanketing the state - school construction and energy efficiency - are intertwined in a $15 million initiative encouraging new public schools to rely on environmentally sound design principles and power sources.

Municipalities building new schools under energy efficiency guidelines will have access to a $15 million pot of grant money when they site solar electric and wind power facilities on public school grounds.

The Massachusetts Technology Collaborative, which controls the state's renewable energy trust fund, is teaming up with the state's School Building Authority to distribute the funds. The effort is the latest in a wave of state efforts toward energy efficiency.

Working to clear its 428-project waiting list before July 1 marks the end of a moratorium on new proposals, the SBA will chip in 2 percent of the eligible project costs for schools meeting its environmental standards. Nearly 200 separate school

"We'll be opening up the program in a couple months, so we want to start it off on the right foot environmentally," said Treasurer Timothy Cahill, who oversees the school building program.

Warren Leon, director of the energy trust, said students and teachers would see health benefits from construction techniques and materials with less toxicity, more ventilation, and anti-dust measures. Once completed, the buildings will require less energy and water supplies, he said.

"It's going to be a building from a community standpoint that's going to take less money to operate and maintain. And from an environmental standpoint, it's going to have lower impacts," Leon said Thursday.

The MTC has tried to foster "green" building techniques across the state, offering incentives for low-income housing built to environmental standards. A $12 million pilot phase of the program focused on 20 "model" schools, Leon said. The new initiative, in collaboration with the SBA, is more widespread, with less funding for each eligible school, he said: "We're making it possible for every new school in the state to be green."

The first qualifying school under the new program, Melrose's Veterans Memorial Middle School, is using a $340,000 grant to fund a 30-kilowatt array of solar panels on its roof.

One of the state's first certified "green schools," Whitman-Hanson Regional High School's district is saving $150,000 per year because its high school relies on clean technologies in the face of rising utility costs, said Jim Armstrong, a selectman and former head of the school building committee there. The school relied on a variety of grants and rebates, totaling about $2 million, to cover most of the extra costs of "building green," Armstrong said.

His committee sold the cost of building the new high school by pitching the long-term cost savings to local taxpayers, Armstrong said.

The MTC claims schools adhering to efficiency benchmarks save $50,000 to $100,000 annually in utility costs.

Cahill called the decision to follow the environmental guidelines "a no-brainer for cities and towns" because the state assists with production costs but does not share in the long-term savings. He said, "Whether you believe in the global warming controversy or you don't, it's still the right thing to do."