Making A Difference As A Local Leader
Promoting The Construction Of Green Schools

Next September, the first ever LEED certified school in the state of Wyoming will open its doors to 250 students from grades K through 5 in Big Horn County School District #3. The key man behind the building of this highly energy efficient and environmentally friendly facility is the school district’s Superintendent, Craig Sorensen. Just a few years ago, he had never heard of LEED certification and many of the energy efficiency systems of his district’s new grade school.

Today he is a passionate believer in LEED’s whole-building approach to sustainability by recognizing performance in five key areas of human and environmental health: sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection, and indoor environmental quality.

The Ashkin Group recently interviewed Sorensen about his experiences introducing green building construction to a region where LEED certified construction is truly a novelty. 

The Ashkin Group: Why did the school system decide to build the first LEED certified school in Wyoming?

Sorensen: It began with the decision to explore ways to build a more energy efficient school building. During our initial research, we were put in touch with a school district in Fort Collins, Colorado that had build some three LEED certified school buildings. We went down and visited, and we were convinced our new school should be a LEED certified building too.

The Ashkin Group: How are new schools funded in Wyoming and what was the reaction to your proposal?

Sorensen: In Wyoming, the state Schools Facilities Commission funds the building of schools. They were supportive of our plan, but under Commission guidelines, the cost to build a LEED certified building was higher than the guidelines permitted. Fortunately, I was able to obtain a grant from the Wyoming Business Council for the additional funding and we moved ahead.

You see the State School Facilities Commission only funds the construction. The local school district is responsible for paying the annual maintenance costs of schools and they get their funds from a mix of local and state taxes.

The Ashkin Group: Do you think the disconnection between the organization responsible for the funding of construction and the group responsible for annual operation costs is problematic?

Sorensen: Philosophically, it is problematic. Even if a school district isn’t going for actual LEED certification when they build a new facility, they should be integrating many of the energy efficient mechanical operations that LEED recommends.

The Ashkin Group: Can you elaborate about the difference in costs in this instance?

Sorensen: Although a LEED certified facility greatly reduces costs and saves money over the life of the building, the initial construction cost is higher—one to two percent higher than a traditional, non-LEED certified facility.

The cost savings over the long-term were not the only reason we wanted a LEED certified school building. There are other benefits that outweigh everything. There is some research that shows that the natural day lighting and better air quality of a LEED certified building improves the attendance of staff and students. There is even some research that indicates students test scores improve.

Our research shows that we could see as much as a 40 percent savings in our energy use from each year for a total savings of $20,000 annually for the life of the building. That means in just eight to 10 years we will break even and then we will save $20,000 annually in operating costs compared to a same sized energy efficient, but non-LEED certified, school building.

Also, the benefits don’t just stop with the construction of the building. The way we clean the building will be much more environmentally friendly. We will use Green Cleaning products and processes. It just makes good sense that we do not want to expose our kids to traditional, harmful cleaning chemicals when newer and better systems are available. For example, we are also implementing a recycling program—another first for our school system—and believe it or not, I am trying to find a business close enough that will take recycled materials. Finding those resources in Wyoming is a bit of a challenge, but we’re going to make it work.

In fact, we are going to implement Green Cleaning district wide. I believe that in not too many years all public buildings are probably going to switch to Green Cleaning. There are some false ideas that green cleaning is much more expensive. It’s not true and it is much safer for our children.

The Ashkin Group: Please describe the new school you are building.

Sorensen: The school is 36,000 sq. ft.; it will house 250 students and offer two classes for each grade from Kindergarten through five. That’s 12 total classrooms and two additional classrooms for other activities, plus support space for a physical therapist, occupational therapist, reading support, and other needs.

The total cost of the new school, including the property, is $9 million. The building alone will cost about $7.5 million.

The key difference compared to a traditional school is the shell of the building. Since it will be LEED certified, it is designed so that on a typical sunny day in Wyoming, very few electrical lights will have to be turned on in the building. Every classroom has windows and solar tubes so that on a typical day, artificial lighting should be unnecessary.

Inner offices that do not have outside windows will have solar tubes that will function like another light source in the room.

Heating will be provided by a ground source heat pump. It is a lot more energy efficient than a typical heating system.

Another requirement of the LEED schools is a learning display board that presents the design of the whole building to anyone who enters. When we give tours, there will be different places where some of the mechanical systems of the new school are visible, for example, a section of the heat pump. Another idea we stole from the LEED certified schools in Colorado is to use the energy efficient systems as a learning tool. They will be a part of the environmental science curriculum of our fifth graders.

The Ashkin Group: Will you be monitoring the energy efficiency of your systems and other issues like staff and student attendance or student test scores?

Sorensen: We are going to compare our systems on a monthly basis, as we already do in all our schools. In fact, another school of the same size also is being built in our area so it will serve as an excellent comparison. The school is being designed to be energy efficient, but it will not have many of the high-performance systems of our LEED certified school. The key comparisons we will be able to provide for a number of years will be:

The Ashkin Group: What advice would you share to other school superintendents exploring the construction of a LEED certified school building?

Sorensen: Look at the big picture rather than simply what the upfront construction expense will be. In my opinion, a one to two percent additional cost in construction will ensure you have a quality building that will be less expensive to operate in the long run and healthier for staff and students.

Gather all the research you can so you have enough information to convince the school board and funding committees of the true value of a LEED certified school. Just “google” environmental friendly buildings and you will find a whole lot of information.

Get everyone on board. Our janitorial and maintenance staff are totally on board. We have included them in our research on LEED certification from the start. For example, I took one of my teachers and three custodial staff with me to a Green Cleaning workshop. They are not just on board with the LEED certification; they are promoting the switch to green.

I’ve had several teachers who are extremely interested in the environmental friendly and energy efficient design of the school and are incorporating it into their classroom lessons. Nearly every day, we have one teacher who goes up on top of a hill overlooking the new school and takes a photo of the construction process so we will have a photo documentation of it all.

I’m trying to get the whole community into the design of the new school too. When we’ve succeeded in influencing the kids, parents, and custodial staff—that’s when I know we’ve done something really good here.

The Ashkin Group: You mentioned you are having trouble finding a business to take recycled materials from the schools, so how does a green building fit with the environmental values of the state?

Sorensen: It reflects the overall philosophy shared by most residents of Wyoming of healthy living and environmental friendly practices. We are very proud of our state and its resources, but it is a challenge to figure out how we are going to sustain our resources. Resources like Yellowstone National park, hunting and fishing—all of that will be impacted by the decisions we make. We just need to make sure the decisions we make now will ensure our kids and grandkids will get to enjoy the same things we do.

The Ashkin Group: Would you agree this process has been a somewhat transformative experience for you?

Sorensen: First it was a huge learning curve. I have been a school principal, teacher and now a superintendent. Philosophically, I am interested in what kind of impact we are having on the environment. It is significant and my goal is to build the facilities we need without having as negative an impact on the environment as we have had in the past.

To put it simply, when you empty a bucket down a drain that contains water mixed with traditional noxious cleaning chemicals, those chemicals go somewhere. Wherever they go, it’s not good. We need to do better than that.