Turner Green Building Conference

Green buildings may have a measurable effect on the way students perform on tests, said the CEO of the U.S. Green Building Council.

Early research has shown that students perform 20 percent better on tests inside green buildings, said Rick Fedirizzi, CEO of the Council. Other early research has shown that green buildings increase worker productivity, influence earlier releases from hospital stays and can even increase retail sales per square foot, he said.

"These buildings affect us in a way we had no idea it would affect us," Fedirizzi said.

The founding chairman for the U.S. Green Building Council talked about green building last month at a one-day symposium called "Investing in the Future: Building Green Schools" at the California Science Center in Los Angeles.

Sponsored by Turner Corp., Global Green USA and U.S. Green Building Council, the symposium invited architects, school administrators and builders to talk about how green schools can be built and what their effect has been, especially in cost savings.

J. William Naish, energy utilities management coordinator for San Diego City Schools, said the school district has installed a number of energy- and money-saving measures.

Quality windows, better air flow systems and even waterless urinals have contributed to the school district saving money, he said.

"It does make financial sense to be green," Naish said.

During the same panel discussion, Katrina Shum Miller, a consultant for Green Building Services. Inc. talked about how green buildings are beneficial in other ways.

A well-designed school can operate successfully for schools on a tight budget and may help increase teacher retention, she said.

"A well-designed school will motivate teachers to remain teaching there," she said.

The Los Angeles Community College District adopted a sustainable building policy in 2001, said Darroch "Rocky" Young, chancellor for the district.

Since that time, the district has overseen the construction of 44 sustainable buildings.

The district has adopted several measures to make its new and existing buildings green.

The district purchases furniture made from 100 percent recyclable material and reuses or recycles all existing furniture and waste.

And while myths remain that green building is difficult to do because of high costs, the community college district has not found that to be the case, Young said.

"If we make the commitment from the outset, it really hasn't added to the cost of the building," he said.

And because green buildings can be run more cheaply than other buildings, the district does not have to set aside as much for their maintenance, he said.

"We envision the savings are going to be our salvation," Young said.

Building green does add some extra cost to a building but it's minimal, Fedirizzi said.

Some early studies have shown that to receive platinum LEED certification for a building, it only increases the cost of construction by 6.8 percent, he said. The cost of construction increases by 2.2 percent for a gold-certified building and 1.9 percent for a silver-certified building, he said.

That increase in building costs can be offset by the savings in energy, water and waste but also productivity generated by the building, Fedirizzi said.

Green buildings have a return that is "immediate and measurable," Fedirizzi said.

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