The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) has praised the US House of Representatives for including $14 billion for the energy-efficient modernization and renovation of K-12 schools as part of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). These green schools are to improve the health, safety, learning environment and energy efficiency of public schools infrastructure in the country.
The council has encouraged the Senate to match this commitment to green schools so this investment can begin creating jobs and working for the millions of students, teachers and faculty in need of better schools and classrooms.
“This legislation applies a number of different strategies to encourage economic growth. It creates jobs that cannot be shipped overseas, encourages the growth of the green technology sector, and invests in America’s most crucial economic resource—our children,” said Congressman Ben Chandler, lead sponsor of H.R. 3021, the 21st Century Green High-Performing Public School Facilities Act, which passed the House with overwhelming bipartisan support on June 6, 2008, and was also included in H.R. 7110, the Job Creation and Employment Relief Act, which passed the House on Sept. 26, 2008.
“By making this crucial investment in our schools, we not only fix crumbling roofs and remove lead and asbestos, but put new tools in the classroom, giving American students the preparation they need to compete on a global stage. I am so pleased to have been a part of this bill and its inclusion in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Bill,” said Chandler.
In December 2008, a group of leaders in Congress called on the House and Senate leadership to support green schools legislation as part of an economic recovery plan. In the letter sent last month to Senate and House majority and minority leaders as well as the chairman and ranking member of the House Appropriations Committee, 28 members of Congress cited the importance of the 21st Century Green High-Performing Public School Facilities Act to revive the troubled U.S. economy.
The Center for American Progress and the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, in a September 2008 study, found that a national green economic recovery program investing $100 billion over 10 years in six infrastructure areas would create 2 million new jobs. A major piece of that program would include retrofitting existing publicly owned buildings, including schools.
“This bill would play a vital role in ensuring our nation is able to maximize scarce education resources by cutting school utility costs, all while nurturing student and teacher health, creating an ideal learning environment, helping secure our nation’s energy future, protecting our environment against climate change and wasteful use of resources, and creating a generation of people who make responsible, healthy, green choices,” said Rick Fedrizzi, president, chief executive officer and founding chair of USGBC.
Support for H.R. 3021 is part of USGBC’s wider support for public policy that would ensure green schools for every child within a generation. USGBC has worked with the energy and environment team of President-Elect Barack Obama’s transition team to advance green building as a key opportunity toward economic recovery.
“By their very nature, schools are an investment in the future, preparing the next generation of leaders and paving the way for tomorrow’s innovations. Because schools embody our hopes and aspirations for the future, we make an important statement about our dedication to that future by building, repairing and operating schools in the most responsible and sustainable ways possible,” Fedrizzi said.